Mark Andrews
Ford CEO Jim Farley made headlines recently after saying he'd been driving a Chinese EV for the past six months — and didn't want to give it up because he thought the car was "fantastic."
The car in question is perhaps the year's biggest sensation in China's EV market: the Xiaomi SU7.
Xiaomi is not that big a name outside Asia despite being one of the world's biggest smartphone makers. It's the latest to enter the hypercompetitive Chinese EV market, in which the only Western company doing well these days is Tesla.
There's no doubt the SU7 is a looker; the problem is it looks a bit too much like a few other well-known sports cars. Luckily, I found the car not only looks the part but delivers the goods when it comes to performance, too.
My test drive was quite limited by time, so I didn't get to try the car as fully as I would have liked. One of my first experiences was driving it down into an underground parking lot for a wash before the video shoot.
With the tight spiral, the SU7's near-five meter (16.4 foot) length proved a challenge, although the array of sensors offering a 360-degree view on the screen helped. The car has a respectable turning radius of 5.7 meters (18.7 feet).
Given Xiaomi's consumer electronics origins, the SU7 is packed full of equipment. The infotainment screen in the center is impossible to miss, and there's also an instrument screen that revolves to greet you. My car even had a fridge in the center console large enough for about six canned drinks, although I later discovered it's an optional extra.
Once on the move, the wide-angle heads-up display takes center stage. I would say the SU7's emphasis tends to be on tech rather than creature comforts. Yes, there is a 25-speaker sound system that boasts Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 — but even on my top-spec Max version, the leather seats are an add-on cost.
Mark Andrews
You can forget a massage seat function that's common on many Chinese EVs. Yet you will find a fixed panoramic roof, and rear passengers have a reasonable amount of space.
Talking of space, the designers put in storage places for all your gadgets. A laptop fits in the glovebox, there's a pocket for a smartphone on the front passenger door, and front seat headrests have tablet mounts for back-seat entertainment.
The car also has the largest "frunk" I've seen on a Chinese EV: 105 liters of space hidden under the hood.
For a car from a company that had never produced a vehicle before this year, the SU7 simply shouldn't drive this well. In fact, it is one of the best-handling Chinese EVs I've driven to date. Although my test didn't really push the car that hard, it remained stable when cornering at speed and felt like it could be thrown around corners thanks to firm, well-weighted steering.
Mark Andrews
On paper, the Max version has formidable performance, with a 0-62mph acceleration time of just 2.78 seconds. However, that requires "Launch Control" mode and my test conditions didn't feel safe enough to try it. I did try flooring it from a standstill in the Sport mode, though, and that was certainly fast enough.
The Max is the only version to use a dual-motor setup. The single-motor versions do the dash in a pedestrian in 5.28 seconds.
Along with the Pro version, the Max is equipped with lidar and a suite of other sensors and can provide what is known for legal reasons as "driving assistance."
Unlike Tesla, most Chinese companies use lidar — a laser-based ranging device used for detecting objects on the road.
Despite having driven many Chinese cars with such systems, Xiaomi would only let me experience the system as a passenger for safety reasons. While it seems to work, the limited demonstration left me feeling it doesn't function as well as the systems from Huawei and XPeng.
Xiaomi sold out of this year's planned production run within days of the SU7 going on sale in March. It's increased production to 20,000 cars a month and is having no difficulty finding buyers.
From my limited test drive, I can see the appeal very well: it's a supercar at everyday prices. My test car came in at a bargain $41,500 equivalent in renminbi, and the range starts at an even more affordable $29,900.
While the SU7 was on display at the Paris auto show this summer, don't get too excited — you won't be able to buy one outside China anytime soon.
