- Xiaomi has taken the Nurburgring production EV lap record from Porsche.
- The SU7 Ultra was three seconds quicker than the Taycan Turbo GT with the Weissach package that removes its back seat for lightness.
- This news marks a significant shift in the balance of power in the automotive industry, with China now rivaling the West in performance cars.
Porsche makes some phenomenal track cars, and its most focused, hardcore versions are usually unbeatable around most circuits. The Taycan Turbo GT with the Weissach pack was the quickest production EV to lap the Nurburgring Nordschleife, but now it’s been dethroned by a newcomer not wearing lederhosen: the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra.
The Nordschleife is a 12.9-mile one-way public road in Germany, which has no speed limit, and manufacturers bring their vehicles here to fine-tune their limit handling and potentially break a lap record.
This isn’t the first time Xiaomi has taken the SU7 Ultra to the Nurburgring to break the EV lap record. However, the car used in the previous record attempt, which resulted in an impressive lap time of 6:46.874, was not the road-legal version, featuring a stripped-out interior and racing slicks, among other modifications.
The new attempt was in a standard road-going SU7 Ultra, and even if it was almost 20 seconds slower, it still beat the Taycan Turbo GT. With a time of 7:04.957, it was almost three seconds quicker than the Porsche, and it even beat the Rimac Nevera, whose fastest recorded Ring lap was 7:05.298 (and around 20 seconds quicker than a Tesla Model S Plaid).
Xiaomi clearly had its sights set on breaking the Porsche’s record, and all credit goes to the company for actually achieving it. Beating the world’s most renowned sports car manufacturer is no mean feat, especially when you’ve only been building cars since 2021. This signals a fundamental shift in the balance of power in the automotive world, and there’s definitely no going back to the way things were before Chinese carmakers really started challenging (and surpassing) the best the West had to offer.
China is being recognized as the global center for automotive innovation these days, especially when it comes to electric and electrified vehicles, as well as the software-defined vehicle revolution. However, it looks like it’s also becoming a hub for performance-oriented and driving enthusiast-pleasing vehicles. The SU7 Ultra is just the quickest, but it’s by no means alone.
BYD’s YangWang U9 is a purpose-built electric supercar with classic mid-engined proportions. With less power, it’s not as quick as the SU7 Ultra to accelerate, but it has a higher top speed and it has a clever active suspension system that allows it to jump—yes, jump—while driving. It offers hypercar-rivaling performance for under 1.7 million yuan (less than $240,000).
The value for money proposition of some sporty Chinese EVs is really hard to beat. The Small Sports Car SC01, which is a ground-up fresh design for an electric sports car, costs less than a Mazda Miata, and it looks like a serious plug-in track toy. The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra is also excellent value for a 1,500+ horsepower vehicle, with a starting price of 529,900 yuan, or under $75,000.
The fact that a smartphone manufacturer that just started making cars was able to beat Porsche on home turf shows just how much things have already changed, and this is likely just the beginning.