Xiaomi unveils its first electric car aiming to become the Porsche or Tesla of China.

After much speculation and leaks, Xiaomi today revealed their first electric car and announced their ambitious goals in the automobile market. Named Xiaomi SU7, where SU stands for Speed Ultra, the company claims it to be a performance beast.

The exterior design of Xiaomi SU7 bears resemblance to Porsche models, although Xiaomi's founder, chairman, and CEO, Lei Jun, stated it's a result of their designers optimizing the proportions of the car's lines. Lei also added that Xiaomi hopes to produce a car of quality akin to Porsche or Tesla.

Xiaomi has equipped the SU7 with powerful hardware, but unfortunately, the company has yet to announce the price of the vehicle. It is known that the company officially announced its entry into automobile manufacturing on March 30, 2021, stating that the initial investment in the automotive business will be 10 billion RMB, with a planned investment of 10 billion USD over the next 10 years.

The SU7 is a mid to full-size sedan with dimensions of 4,997mm in length, 1,963mm in width, and 1,440/1,455mm in height, with a wheelbase of 3,000mm. These dimensions are larger than Tesla's Model 3.

Xiaomi SU7 has a wind resistance capability of only Cd 0.195, a figure Xiaomi claims is the lowest among production vehicles worldwide. One of the company's demo videos shows the electric car achieving this result without LiDAR on the roof.

Although the SU7 targets the mainstream electric vehicle market, Lei frequently compares it to luxury models including the Porsche Taycan Turbo and Tesla Model S during today's three-hour launch event.

The dual-motor version of Xiaomi SU7 is equipped with electric motors with a total combined power of 673 PS, maximum power of 495 kW, and maximum torque of 838 Nm.

Lei Hun stated that the drivetrain allows the SU7 to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.78 seconds, faster than the 2.93 seconds of the Porsche Taycan Turbo.

Xiaomi SU7 has a maximum speed of 265 km/h, surpassing the 260 km/h of the Porsche Taycan Turbo and 250 km/h of the Tesla Model S.

This model will be equipped with CATL's Qilin battery with a capacity of 101 kWh, capable of recharging in 5 minutes to achieve a range of 220 km and 15 minutes to achieve a range of 510 km.

Xiaomi announced that the all-wheel-drive dual-motor version of SU7 will have a CLTC operating range of 800 km, making it the most efficient all-wheel-drive vehicle in the Chinese market.

It is known that Qilin is a new type of battery introduced by CATL on June 23, 2022, bringing innovation to the battery structure rather than chemical systems. Although not disclosed by Xiaomi, the Qilin battery used in the SU7 electric vehicle will be based on third-generation lithium chemistry, often with higher energy density.

Previous management profiles indicated that this model will also use BYD's lithium iron phosphate battery (OTCMKTS: BYDDF).

Lei Jun also revealed at today's launch event that Xiaomi has built its own battery manufacturing plant and has thousands of engineers who have worked with CATL for 2 years to develop the 800V battery pack.