I went to a Xiaomi shop in Beijing on a surprisingly hot summer afternoon. My primary target was the new Xiaomi YU7 SUV, one of the biggest hits in China this year. Immediately upon entry, I found this pretty YU7 painted in Titanium Gray with a Coral Orange Interior. Well, that was a good start, but it would only get better.
The shop is based inside a large automotive market in eastern Beijing. It combines a dealer, a delivery center, and a service center. There was a long line of YU7s parked outside for test drives. It was super busy, with customers and cars coming and going all the time.
A pond for good luck, complete with a waterfall and gold fish. Just across the street is a large seafood market. Perhaps that is where they got the goldfish. The seafood area used to be a part of the car market too.
The Xiaomi YU7 Max in Lava Orange
Lava Orange is the best color for the SU7 and, for that matter, the YU7. It looks so racy, fast, without even moving. This is the Xiaomi SU7 Max model, with a dual-motor AWD powertrain. It has 495 kW (673 hp) and 838 Nm of torque. The top speed is 265 km/h, and it does 0-100 in 2.78s. The massive 101 kWh battery makes for an 800 km range.
Amazingly, it costs only 299.900 yuan or $42K. The car in the photo has the low-drag alloy wheels with “aerodynamic inserts”. These wheels add 10 km of range compared to the standard 5-spoke wheels, for a total of 810 km.
On the right is an influencer doing a live stream. She wears a hot blue dress. Live-streaming influencers are a thing in Chinese car dealers. I see them all the time. Mostly, they let me be as I let them stream, but sometimes, they are in my way.
The Mist Purple interior is a mix of sporty and luxury, with metal pedals and a racy steering wheel with a flat bottom. Xiaomi fitted shortcut buttons on the center stack. This was a notable choice in a time when most other car brands killed buttons wherever they could. It has a 56-inch HUD, a 7.1-inch driver’s display, and a 16.1-inch main screen.
The view in the Xiaomi dealer
Xiaomi only sells two models: the Xiaomi SU7 sedan and the Xiaomi YU7 SUV. However, Xiaomi is set to launch a whole lot more, including a larger sedan and an EREV SUV. The shop certainly had enough space left.
Xiaomi’s rise has been nothing but a miracle. The brand’s owner is Xiaomi Corporation, best known for consumer electronics, selling everything from mobile phones to rice cookers to robots. Xiaomi also runs experience stores in shopping malls, where consumers can buy a car and a washing machine at the same time.
The Xiaomi brand has always been super popular, so when it launched a car in late 2023, there was an immediate and massive interest in the SU7. Xiaomi didn’t have to spend any money on brand recognition!
Cleaverly, Xiaomi developed Hyper OS, a brand new operating system that connected Xiaomi’s phones, computers, and home appliances seamlessly with the cars. That works literally without any hitch. For example, you are on the phone, you get into the car, and the call is immediately and fully automatically rerouted to the car’s infotainment system.
The Xiaomi SU7 Pro in Bay Blue
Bay Blue is probably the second-best color for the SU7. Inside the Xiaomi shop was this great-looking SU7 Pro model. It has the super cool “Rice Wheel” alloys with 8 spokes and a white inner rim. These wheels are an 8000 yuan ($1130) option. The SU7 Pro has a single-motor RWD powertrain with 220 kW (299 hp) and 400 Nm. It has a 210 km/h top speed and a 0-100 of 5.7s. There’s a 94.3 kWh battery and an 830 km range.
The Xiaomi SU7 Pro in Bright Magenta
Bright Magenta is a new color. It launched with the 15th Anniversary Limited Series, but now it’s available on all models. The color costs 9000 yuan ($1270). It looks great, but Xiaomi should have called it pink.
The extremely powerful Xiaomi SU7 Ultra was not in the shop. I asked. Staff said they had sold all the cars they had been allocated. That’s typical for China. You can buy any car you desire from the shop’s floor, pay, and drive away. The dealer will sort out the admin later. Fortunately, I saw plenty of Ultras on the road. More about those mad machines in upcoming posts.
Xiaomi: crazy sales
A giant display in the Xiaomi shop shows various options for the interior, exterior colors, and alloy wheels.
Sales of the SU7 took off like crazy. In just a few months, the Xiaomi brand breached the Top 20, with just one model! That is the fastest rise of a car brand in China ever. The SU7’s peak came in April 2025, with sales of 28.585 units. But then, a formidable internal competitor came along.
The Xiaomi YU7 Max Titanium Gray
The Xiaomi YU7 is not “just” an SUV version of the SU7. It is really a completely new car, with a new design and a higher price point. It is based on the same platform but with extra-powerful motors. The YU7 Max has a dual-motor AWD drivetrain, with 508 kW (690 hp) and 866 Nm. That’s enough power for a 253 km/h top speed and a 0-100 in 3.23 seconds. It has a 101.7 kWh battery and a 760-km range.
The YU7 Max costs 329.900 yuan ($46.5K). The 20-inch “Whirpool” alloy wheels cost 6000 yuan ($851).
The interior design is completely different compared to the SU7. The buttons are gone, replaced with a larger double wireless charging pad. It has a 16.1-inch touch screen, but doesn’t have an instrument panel or a traditional HUD. Instead, Xiaomi designed a new 1.1-meter-wide ‘Xiaomi HyperVision’ cabin-wide HUD, similar to what the new BMW iX3 has, but Xiaomi had it first. The wireless chargers have an 80W capacity, a record for China. Most brands offer 50W, or only 30.
The interior color is Coral Orange. As with any electric car, the space in the rear is huge, helped by the 3000 mm wheelbase. It has a 6.68-inch screen between the front seats.
The Xiaomi YU7: another hit
The Xiaomi YU7 has the largest clamshell bonnet of any production car in the world today. It also has a 141-liter frunk.
The success of the YU7 has been incredible, again. Xiaomi launched the YU7 in June 2025. Just 3 months later, in September 2025, it outsold the SU7 for the first time. In October 2025, Xiaomi moved 33.662 units of the YU7 and 14.992 units of the SU7.
That propelled Xiaomi to the 14th place in the brand sales rankings, a new record. But the success of the SUV has clearly hurt the sedan, so that’s perhaps a worrying sign for Xiaomi. Remember, in April 2025, Xiaomi sold 28.585 SU7 sedans.
Each YU7 has this cool tag under the hood, showing the max rpm of the electric motors, max power, and max torque. The tag also shows a silhouette of the YU7, with the text “Designed by Xiaomi”.
Another YU7 Max, in Cambrian Gray with shiny 21-inch “Torx” forged alloy wheels with red brake calipers, a 16.000 yuan ($2.253) option. That’s really expensive in China, but look at it, worth every fen!
Test drive
The staff at the Xiaomi shop really wanted me to try out the YU7. How could I refuse? Interestingly, all of the test drive admin was completed via various apps. They scanned my driving license, then I downloaded a Xiaomi app, we went back and forth a few times, and I was good to go! The whole process took about 5 minutes. My test car was this brilliant YU7 Lava Orange model.
First, a Xiaomi fellow took the wheel to show me around. The HyperVision system is brilliant. You don’t have to take your eyes off the road for any moment, you don’t need to move your eyes or your head, all the info you need is in your line of sight.
The screen is divided into 3 parts: ADAS, navigation, and entertainment.
After a short while, we stopped alongside the road for a driver change. My new Xiaomi friend demonstrated the outside-digital assistant function.
The YU7 has exterior microphones, so you can order it to open that big hood or the trunk.
Gettin behind the wheel
When you get in, the seat automatically finds the best position for your size and posture. The driver can overrule that, but for me, that wasn’t necessary. The car got it right! It also has pretty frameless doors and Xiaomi badges on the door sills.
The sporty steering wheel is bound in real leather, with a thick rim and a boost button. The fit and finish are top-end; everything you see, touch, and smell feels expensive.
It was early afternoon, so there wasn’t much traffic around. I did 60-100, and I overtook a whole bunch of cars. The top speed on this road is 80, but I went much faster, to about 120. The speed is so effortless. That’s typical for any Chinese car, but in the YU7, the speed was imminent, so fast, so soon, I was floored. My Xiaomi friend laughed aloud, he told me many folks who drove the YU7 for the first time have the same experience.
A rare military Beijing BJ80V 4×4, with white military license plates.
ADAS
I also tested the ADAS. It engages with one click. It can drive over the highway, overtake, change lanes, enter & exit the highway, and drive in busy traffic, like on the side road in the photo. After I got used to it, I felt confident enough to let the car drive itself back all the way to the Xiaomi shop. The test drive lasted for about 30 minutes. It was great. With these kinds of cars, it is no wonder that Chinese EVs are taking over the world.
Time to go: leaving the Xiaomi shop
Naturally, the car parked itself, just click a few buttons and it goes. I have had this self-parking experience with many Chinese cars by now, but every time, I am impressed.
A Sapphire Green Max model.
Well, it was a great visit to a Xiaomi store. I arrived mystery-shopper style – they didn’t know I was coming. The staff were friendly, handed me bottles of ice-cold water and brochures, and took me on a test drive.
The staff was genuinely enthusiastic about the Xiaomi brand, and they knew everything about the cars, from standard equipment to obscure technical details. They also made fuzzy jokes about the competition, mostly about Tesla.
This is an optional tray behind the main screen, with a matching optional tissue box. More dealer visits soon!