- A 1,526 hp Xiaomi SU7 Ultra crashed on track in China.
- Deliveries of the top Ultra variant of the SU7 just started this month.
- The SU7 Ultra sounds like a bargain, costing the equivalent of $72,800 and promising Porsche Taycan-beating performance.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a Xiaomi SU7 having trouble on track after one car seemingly lost its brakes. Pure skill saved the driver from colliding head-on with the barrier and sustaining more serious injuries. That was a 673 horsepower SU7 Max, but now an SU7 Ultra with more than twice the output suffered a similar incident on track.
Xiaomi only began deliveries of the SU7 Ultra, the most powerful electric sedan in the world, on March 2. We can certainly understand why an owner would immediately want to take it to the track after taking delivery. Perhaps the driver got a bit carried away with the supremely quick car that looks so aggressive and capable.
Seeing the SU7 Ultra tackle the Nurburgring Nordschleife a few months back, it certainly looked fast, planted and surefooted. It even beat the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT’s lap time, although it was later pointed out that the record-beating car wasn’t quite stock, so its time wasn’t directly comparable to the one put down by the Porsche.
On paper, the SU7 Ultra is an impressive machine. Its 1,526 hp output comes courtesy of a tri-motor layout, like a Lucid Air Sapphire and its aero elements provide a claimed 630 pounds (285 kilograms) of downforce. That’s reassuring in a car with an acceleration time to 62 mph (100 kph) of 1.98 seconds and a top speed of 223 mph (359 kph).
CarNewsChina recently shared a video showing a brand new SU7 Ultra missing a turn and crashing around a track. Its driver carried too much speed into a right-hand corner, and the car kept going straight and into the barrier. This is similar to the other SU7 track crash, except that was at a much higher speed and that the car lost its brakes.
We don’t know what caused this—probably driver error—but it’s a good segue to discuss all the reports we’ve seen, mostly from non-automotive outlets, comparing the SU7 to a Taycan. Sure, they look about the same and have similar on-paper figures, and the Chinese car is several times cheaper. But are they really comparable?
Chinese cars have, without a doubt, progressed significantly in the space of a few years and could be considered world-leading in certain categories (mainly regarding value for money). However, to think that a car from a smartphone company just starting out in the auto business has the same grasp of overall performance could be a stretch. There is a precision and a finesse to a Porsche’s handling that’s been honed over decades. It’s not so easily matched.
We’re not trying to knock the SU7, which even won over the CEO of a major American automaker, but is it a real Taycan rival? It’s an outstanding deal with its three motors and huge power output for the equivalent of just $72,800 in China, no argument there. And the production-spec Xiaomi SU7 was quicker around the Shanghai International F1 circuit than a Taycan Turbo GT, putting down a time of 2:09.94 to the Porsche’s 2:11.28.
However, it has to be said that Porsche completed its lap in damp conditions, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. It’s also considerably down on power compared to the Xiaomi, but despite these disadvantages, its lap time was still very close.
Big power is fun. But handling certainly matters, and it seems Xiaomi isn’t quite dialed in compared to Porsche.
