A smartphone giant just came out with its first car. No, Apple hasn’t about-faced on its plans to scrap its decade-long Project Titan car program. Instead, Chinese tech behemoth Xiaomi unveiled a sporty electric vehicle Thursday it hopes will rival those made by Porsche and Tesla. It’s the Xiaomi SU7 EV series.
Xiaomi SU7 super EV series claims 500-mile range and show-stopping acceleration
The new Xiaomi SU7 EV sports car series boasts a range of more than 500 miles and chest-punching acceleration, according to a new report in The U.S. Sun. The car officially launched Thursday in Beijing. Whether it will roll out anywhere but China isn’t yet known.
Xiaomi is well-known for smartphones and a host of electronics and other goods, especially in China. The brand pumps out everything from laptops to fish tanks. And now it’s making a car. That was a long-awaited and often-shifting project goal of another smartphone-maker you might have heard of — Apple. However, Cupertino recently decided to scrap the whole thing after a lot of time and money spent.
Xiaomi SU7 EV: Emulating Porsche and Tesla
“Xiaomi wants to build a ‘dream car’ comparable to Porsche and Tesla,” Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun said on Weibo. “If we want to build good cars, we must seriously learn from these two best car manufacturers in the world.”
The “SU” in SU7 stands for “speed ultra,” by the way. The all-electric car will come in three trim levels with different capabilities: SU7, SU7 Pro and SU7 Max. That lingo sounds a bit like smartphones, doesn’t it?
Anyway, the base level goes 434 miles on a charge while the Pro lasts 516 miles and the Max hits 503 miles (lower because it puts out a monstrous 664 horsepower).
If it arrives outside of China, pricing might be competitive
Pricing on the Xiaomi SU7 EV would be competitive with low-end Teslas if the cars come to other countries and mirror Chinese estimates. Those range from 219,000 yuan to 315,000 yuan, or about $30,300 to $43,000.
And given the Max’s massive power, it can go zero to 60 mph in 2.78 seconds, the company said. As the Sun points out, that’s what the Porsche Taycan can do.
The vehicles will feature a large touchscreen user interface featuring Xiaomi’s HyperOS infotainment programming.
And, perhaps surprisingly for a new carmaker known for Android smartphones, the new EV models will support Apple’s CarPlay.
