Xiaomi's first SUV is expected to hit the market in June or July next year. Although it will be a few months later than the new Model Y, it seems that only Xiaomi YU7 can truly pose a challenge to the new Model Y. With rear-wheel steering, drilled disc brakes, four-piston sport calipers, and the high-power dual motors recently revealed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Xiaomi YU7's standard version will come with LiDAR, a large battery, and dual motors, directly targeting the Model Y's Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive version. Moreover, there will surely be an Ultra version pushing the performance to the limit. Given this, what new technologies will Xiaomi YU7 bring this time?

Larger space and lower drag, with a chassis a generation ahead of Model Y?

What technology can be seen from the appearance? First, Xiaomi YU7's long front compartment and short rear overhang provide more interior space than Xiaomi SU7. Some may wonder why electric vehicles need a long front compartment, given that most new energy vehicles aim for a four-wheel-corner design. The reason is that a long front compartment facilitates the technology of a short L113, allowing the front bulkhead to move forward, thus expanding legroom in the front passenger compartment. The short rear overhang accommodates the second-row seats close to the wheel arches. With a length of nearly 5 meters and a wheelbase of 3 meters, Xiaomi YU7's cabin space will surely surpass that of Xiaomi SU7 and Model Y, offering at least two fists of extra legroom in the second row.

Second, large air ducts are reserved above the headlights and hood, as well as on the fenders and sides of the front bumper, clearly aimed at reducing drag. In other words, even with a larger ground clearance than Xiaomi SU7, Xiaomi YU7 offers similar drag and energy consumption to sedans. Third, the new car switches from semi-hidden door handles to fully hidden ones, apparently also to reduce drag. However, this is also to preserve the large curved surface and lighting effects of the door panels. The question is, will it be a mechanical press like Tesla's or an electric pop-up commonly used by new forces?

Although the interior has not been revealed, combining known information, we can roughly see the design outline of Xiaomi YU7. Previous spy shots suggest that the new car is unlikely to use the same interior as Xiaomi SU7. Most notably, a remote through-screen appears below the front windshield for the first time, similar to AITO Askey 12's but narrower, likely displaying information like speed and temperature, while vehicle control interactions are still handled by the center console. Besides these visible new technologies, Xiaomi YU7's real trump card may lie in its chassis suspension. In fact, the long front compartment and short rear overhang design is not only to optimize the in-cabin experience but also to create more space for the chassis, allowing for larger battery packs. Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that Xiaomi YU7's curb weight reaches 2405kg, 424kg heavier than the Model Y Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive version, equivalent to adding a 63kWh battery like the Zunjie S800. The increase in curb weight affects energy consumption, acceleration, braking performance, range, and handling. How to solve this problem? Adjusting the suspension system is one way.

Based on Xiaomi SU7's chassis structure, the front double wishbone and rear five-link suspension are likely to be directly adopted for Xiaomi YU7. However, instead of using a suspension system comprising closed dual-chamber air springs and single-valve CDC shock absorbers, the new car is likely to install a new system on each of its four wheels, consisting of a 4.6kW power pump and dual-valve CDC, also known as Xiaomi's recently launched fully active suspension. This technology, combined with LiDAR, cameras, and other intelligent driving perception hardware, pre-judges road conditions, feeds the matched data back to the central controller, and individually and real-time adjusts the oil pressure in the upper and lower chambers of the shock absorbers through four power pumps, providing appropriate vibration filtering solutions for different road conditions within a stroke range of 140mm. Compared to Huawei's Turang engine chassis technology, Xiaomi has completely eliminated the air suspension, achieving similar active adjustment effects but with higher functional limits, such as lifting forces exceeding 40,000N, enabling consecutive jumps in place, completely counteracting the pitch attitude generated during starting or stopping, and even allowing reverse leaning similar to motorcycle cornering.

With this chassis technology, even at a curb weight exceeding 2.4 tons, stress from all directions on the road can be mitigated, resulting in a comfortable in-cabin experience. As for Model Y, current information suggests it will not be equipped with air suspension. Instead, it may reduce the support stiffness at the top of the shock absorber and adjust the damping and elastic components to weaken the bumpiness caused by vertical suspension bounces. Therefore, Xiaomi YU7's chassis technology is at least a generation ahead of Tesla's. However, there is a concern. Since the entire system is allowed to draw power directly from the high-voltage system, the total 18.4kW power pumps at the wheel ends will be on standby 24/7, accelerating power consumption on bumpy roads. This means Xiaomi YU7 cannot use small-capacity batteries. Will it use CATL's Qilin battery? The same battery version as Xiaomi SU7 is priced at 299,900 yuan. Therefore, there are two possibilities for the new car: either the entry-level version does not use the Qilin battery and thus does not come with this chassis technology, or it comes with a full-power battery and chassis, in which case the price will surely exceed 300,000 yuan.

A four-motor version may be introduced, hinting at the emerging shape of Xiaomi's L3 architecture?

According to power parameters revealed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Xiaomi YU7's YS210XY103 motor has a maximum power of 220kW, and the TZ220XY109 motor has a maximum power of 288kW, corresponding to Xiaomi's V6 and V6s motors. Considering the V8 motor with a maximum speed of 28,000rpm may be overpowered for Xiaomi YU7, could we still see a four-motor version? The answer is yes. When Xiaomi recently unveiled its super four-motor system, it previewed a new front dual-motor drive system. Under this technology, the rear axle is equipped with two V8s motors. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility of combining the front dual-motor drive system with V6 motors. We can anticipate the performance of this four-motor architecture combined with the fully active suspension.

Placing two motors on the rear axle presents challenges in lightweighting and integration. The goal is to reduce the overall motor weight's pressure on the chassis by selecting lightweight materials and integrating core components within the motor, thereby enhancing vehicle agility and ride comfort. For high-power motors, the challenges further extend to size and heat dissipation. Xiaomi's solution is to coaxially arrange the front motors to share a housing. Structurally, the stator and rotor are in a back-to-back relationship. In simpler terms, two motors are placed where one used to be. The core approach is to reduce component volumes and the overall motor size. The first step is to change the winding method. Compared to the mainstream H-Pin winding, X-Pin winding eliminates straight segments, reducing the winding's end height. The second step is to optimize the size and weight of the planetary reducer, ensuring stability with dual-cycle stereo oil cooling for heat dissipation.

Theoretically, a larger motor rotor radius results in a longer output shaft arm, increasing peak torque. However, as the motor's unit volume significantly shrinks, the system's kinetic energy performance is bound to be affected. Xiaomi's official torque of 380Nm suggests it has reached the torque limit under the design philosophy of high power and small size. Compared to the V6 motor's 338Nm, this "two-in-one" new motor is clearly capable of meeting the performance requirements of the future Xiaomi YU7 Ultra version. Besides batteries, chassis, and motors, Xiaomi YU7 has another detail that has gone unnoticed: Xiaomi's L3 architecture is taking shape with this new car. In fact, the L3 architecture comprises more than just radar, camera perception hardware, and end-to-end models. It also encompasses the entire automotive architecture, including power, steering, braking, and even the chassis. Specifically, the 48V electrical platform (48V by-wire) will be the next competitive frontier in intelligent driving.

By-wire simply means upgrading the low-voltage system voltage from 12V to 48V, making Gigabit Ethernet cabling on the CAN bus standard. This means all wires will be connected to a single cable, enabling the connection of more powerful computing chips and fewer MCU units. In other words, higher voltage brings greater bandwidth. What can Gigabit Ethernet do? It is the foundation for by-wire steering, by-wire braking, and by-wire chassis, directly addressing transportation needs, reducing total wiring by 70% and copper usage by over half. In terms of user experience, vehicles with by-wire steering can even use game controllers as steering wheels. Without a traditional steering assist axis, the intelligent driving system can process steering faster than human drivers. Currently, besides Tesla Cybertruck, NIO ET9 is the fastest domestically produced car with by-wire steering technology. Xiaomi has also deployed 48V by-wire steering and 48V by-wire braking. In summary, a key feature of by-wire is the elimination of mechanical connections in favor of electrical signals, reducing mechanical transmission losses and vehicle weight. Vehicles can autonomously execute tasks without driver input, making such technologies a foundation for higher-level autonomous driving.

This means that models based on the 48V electrical platform architecture are no longer traditional mechanical concepts but rather fully-fledged computer concepts. Looking at the current L3 mainstream technology, Xiaomi has chosen the technical route of end-to-end + 48V + Gigabit Ethernet bus + XPU. On the mobile end, it is no longer limited to simple parking control but will also involve remote suspension adjustment, driving using mobile phone gyroscopes, and lossless-level iteration in information interaction.