Xiaomi electric car launches in February

Rumors that Xiaomi is working on an electric car s-at the confirmation when they submitted the homologation documents to the Chinese authorities, on this occasion all the details about this model became public. It will be called the Xiaomi SU7 and will go into production now in December, with first deliveries in February 2024.

It’s hard to say exactly how much of this machine is actually made by Xiaomi. The SU7 will be produced in a BAIC factory, which is one of China’s major automakers. The engines are made by United, and the batteries by BYD and CATL, all Chinese companies.

Of course, the automotive industry anyway relies on massive outsourcing of components to third-party manufacturers, in which case it actually starts to matter who does the design and integration of the components in the market. Basically, a mobile phone also uses Qualcomm chipset and Samsung screen and SK Hynix memory, Bosch accelerometers and Sony sensors; how they’re integrated and the software that controls them ultimately makes the difference between a good phone and a meh-dioc™ one.

Back to the Xiaomi SU7, I would have preferred to see something new in terms of design. Their car seems to be the “safest” design, one that everyone is already used to and seems to get lost in the crowd of cars in the world.

This is how it looks from the front:

The front and especially the horizontally symmetrical headlights resemble the Hyundai Ioniq 6 and even the McLaren 750S in my opinion.

The back looks like this:

And you call it an inverted Kia Stinger:

Overall, however, I was hoping for a more original, more special form. I think a problem with electrics will be that, in the rush for the lowest possible aerodynamic coefficient, they could all look the same in the future. And yet, the BMW i5 managed to remain a BMW, to give just one example.

The technical specifications are attractive though. There will be three variants, called SU7, SU7 Pro and SU7 Max. I was expecting Ultra, like phones. The car is 5 meters long, and the top model develops 663 horsepower from two electric motors and weighs 2.2 tons. The high ratio better than Tesla Model 3, so I expect hundred per hour around 3-4 seconds and a range of over 500 km, maybe even over 600 km officially.

Also interesting is that some models will have integrated LIDAR. You see it above the windscreen in a small recess in the roof, quite unobtrusive and certainly very helpful for all the assisted driving functions.

Lidar is a laser system that very well identifies the shape of objects in its field of view, a kind of 3D laser scanner. Most manufacturers don’t integrate one because they rely on video cameras for object recognition and thus also reduce the cost of the car, but Lidar technology is superior in detection performance and is independent of environmental conditions and cannot be fooled like a video camera.

Then again, there haven’t been too many situations where a Lidar is a critically needed technology either. Even considering autonomous cars and conditions totally unfavorable to video cameras and classic radars (blinding sun, heavy rain, etc.), the driver can take control and that’s it. We’re still not at the level where it’s normal for the driver to fall asleep while driving or not even know how to drive, and I think we’re still decades away from that.

Someone also took the photos below of a camouflaged Xiaomi car being tested on the streets. The steering wheel has a few buttons, including what looks like a rotary switch probably for Eco/Normal/Sport modes or whatever you call it.

That tablet in the center, however, you say is taken from Tesla. That Home icon in the lower-left is just like the Tesla.

I am curious if someone will bring this car to Romania in the near future. For example, I have already seen a BYD Han around Romania and I understand that a large car dealer wants to import this electric limousine to us as well. It is clear that the Chinese automotive offensive in Europe is beginning.

We’re waiting for Apple’s electric car and Samsung’s. Samsung has had a long collaboration with Renault in Korea, I’m surprised they don’t already have a car on the market. As many Samsung phones as there are in the world, they could also offer all kinds of paired functions from digital keys to face recognition, complex connectivity and more.