SU7 Ultra: Even Ferrari is interested in Xiaomi’s electric car

It is a strong symbol, photos shared on Weibo by a user of the name Piniluoshan show a copy of the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra out of the Ferrari factory in Maranello, Italy.

The “Sago to Bologna” blogger explains that“After verification, we learned that this specific vehicle had been officially bought by Ferrari to test and develop its new generation electrical platform.”

Getting copies of competition cars, even very indirect, is a common practice in the automobile, in order to carry out benchmarks or even discover new manufacturing processes via retro-engineering methods. SU7 had notably already been imported into South Korea by Hyundai for the same reasons, or in the United States by Ford whose CEO, Jim Farley, had admitted that he did not want to return his.

A few years ago, however, it would have been very difficult to imagine such a situation, so Xiaomi is a new player in the automobile. Its first electric car, the SU7 sedan, was launched less than two years ago and for the moment on its only domestic market, but it is already experiencing phenomenal success and an international craze.

More powerful and much cheaper than a ferrari

The ultra version of SU7 is the most efficient in the range. Launched at the start of the year and equipped with three electric motors, it develops a trifle of 1138 kW (1547 hp) and 1770 Nm, figures that none of the current models of Ferrari, not even its latest F80 hypercar at 3.6 million euros. The electric sedan announces 0 to 100 km/h in 1.98 s and even offered the record for the fastest four -door standard car on the northern loop of the Nürburgring.

Ferrari, for its part, is currently developing its first electric car. Expected in the spring, it will not be a berlinette but rather a crossover, with lines close to those of Purosangue. Pressure is important for the brand whose emotions conveyed by its cars are at the heart of buyers’ concerns. In the electricity era, it becomes much easier to offer crazy performance on everyday and fairly affordable cars, such as US7 Ultra, launched at ¥ 529,900, less than € 64,000. Ferrari will therefore have to stand out other than by the only performance of his cars.