After six months of anticipation, Xiaomi YU7 has finally arrived!

At Xiaomi's 15th-anniversary strategic new product launch event held tonight, Lei Jun officially unveiled Xiaomi Automobile's first SUV, Xiaomi YU7.

The entire event lasted 2 hours and 10 minutes, with a full hour dedicated to Xiaomi YU7, accounting for almost half of the entire event. However, for a brand-new car model, this timeframe was still relatively concise. Fortunately, Lei Jun revealed many exciting new details about the car, potentially influencing your decision between Xiaomi YU7 and competitors like Tesla Model Y.

Image Source: LeTech/Electric Vehicle News Live Coverage

Let's dive in.

"Xiaomi YU7 belongs to the Xiaomi family, but it must have its own personality."

According to previously released application information, Xiaomi YU7 boasts dimensions of 4999/1996/1600mm and a wheelbase of 3000mm, identical to Xiaomi SU7's wheelbase. However, this does not mean Xiaomi YU7 is merely the "SUV version of Xiaomi SU7".

The official images of Xiaomi YU7 were released earlier this year, and during the launch event, Lei Jun confirmed Xiaomi YU7's official positioning – a luxury high-performance SUV, differing from the family-oriented positioning of most SUVs.

Image Source: Xiaomi Automobile Official

SUVs have a larger frontal area, making Xiaomi YU7's drag coefficient inevitably higher than Xiaomi SU7's. To mitigate this, Xiaomi focused on aerodynamics. Lei Jun revealed that Xiaomi YU7 features 10 sets of through-air ducts and over 40 sets of drag optimization measures, including an active intake grille, front bumper air curtain ducts, fender ducts, etc., reducing the vehicle's drag coefficient to 0.245Cd. This improvement boosts the CLTC pure electric range by 59km compared to before optimization.

Screenshot: Xiaomi Automobile Live Stream

Furthermore, Xiaomi YU7 is equipped with the V6s Plus super motor. With advanced technologies and algorithms, the drive motor's maximum speed, peak torque, and peak power have been enhanced compared to the V6s super motor in Xiaomi SU7. Coupled with unique colors like Emerald Green and Titanium Metal, and standard continuous damping adjustable shock absorbers, Xiaomi YU7's sporty attributes are firmly established.

Xiaomi Automobile's traditional advantage in technological configuration also extends to Xiaomi YU7.

Lei Jun stated that Xiaomi YU7's electronic and electrical architecture adopts a four-in-one domain control module, integrating the assisted driving domain, cabin domain, communication domain, and vehicle domain into one unit. This design is not only compact and lightweight but also optimizes energy efficiency, reducing the power consumption of the sentinel mode by 40%.

Screenshot: Xiaomi Automobile Live Stream

The infotainment system utilizes the third-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, and the assisted driving computing chip adopts the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor automotive computing platform with a maximum computing power of 700 TOPS, standard across all trims.

Theoretically, the family car market audience is much larger than the sports car market. However, Xiaomi SU7's popularity demonstrates that Chinese consumers do not necessarily dislike products with strong sporting attributes. As long as the hard power is up to par, they will gain market recognition.

Nevertheless, Li Tianyuan, Chief Designer of Xiaomi Automobile, said, "YU7 belongs to this family, but it must have its own personality," which left a deep impression on Electric Vehicle News.

Screenshot: Xiaomi Automobile Live Stream

For instance, unique designs such as the "two lines and one point" hollow water droplet headlights, electric inward-turning door handles, and Xiaomi Sky Screen panoramic display enable people to immediately see the differences between Xiaomi YU7 and Xiaomi SU7.

Worth mentioning is Xiaomi Sky Screen panoramic display, which adopts panoramic curved projection technology. This display system's visual effect is similar to AITO models. The three Mini LED screens below the windshield can directly project information onto the black area below the windshield. The left and right sides can also display blind spot images during turns. Drivers can freely combine information cards according to their needs, meeting both the driver's driving information needs and the passenger's entertainment display needs.

Screenshot: Xiaomi Automobile Live Stream

Theoretically, Xiaomi YU7 could have continued using Xiaomi SU7's interior design, but the all-new Xiaomi Sky Screen panoramic display is clearly the result of Xiaomi Automobile's thoughtful design. This is indeed much stronger than some automakers that emphasize minimalist design.

Tesla and Porsche are once again being "paid tribute" to.

As early as Xiaomi SU7's launch event, Lei Jun stated that Xiaomi Automobile would consider Tesla and Porsche as its main competitors. During the introduction of Xiaomi YU7, Lei Jun repeatedly compared it with Tesla Model Y and other luxury brand models.

In terms of space, Xiaomi YU7 offers 100mm of front headroom, 77mm of rear headroom, and 73mm of rear legroom, all superior to Model Y and Porsche Cayenne.

Screenshot: Xiaomi Automobile Live Stream

Comparing the rear seat reclining angle, Xiaomi YU7's maximum reclining angle is 135°, larger than Model Y and Maybach GLS.

Regarding power, which is of utmost concern to consumers, the Xiaomi YU7 Max version achieves a 0-100km/h acceleration time of only 3.23s and a top speed of 253km/h, both faster than Tesla Model Y Performance and Porsche Macan Electric. The only inferior data for Xiaomi YU7 Max is the peak torque of the electric motor.

Screenshot: Xiaomi Automobile Live Stream

Xiaomi SU7's endurance has been verified by multiple media outlets, and Lei Jun is particularly confident in Xiaomi YU7's endurance capabilities. The standard version of Xiaomi YU7 is equipped with a 96.3kWh battery pack, offering a CLTC pure electric range of 835km, ranking first in the mid-to-large pure electric SUV market. The Porsche Macan Electric (rear-wheel-drive version) with a 100kWh battery pack and the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV (rear-wheel-drive version) with an 111.8kWh battery pack both have CLTC pure electric ranges of less than 750km.

Screenshot: Xiaomi Automobile Live Stream

The CLTC pure electric ranges of Xiaomi YU7 Pro and Xiaomi YU7 Max are 770km and 760km, respectively, outperforming the quad-drive versions of Model Y, Porsche Macan Electric, Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV, and BMW iX.

Regarding charging experience, the 5.2C charging rate and 800V silicon carbide high-voltage platform allow Xiaomi YU7 Max to charge from 10% to 80% in just 12 minutes, while Tesla Model Y and Porsche Macan Electric require more than 20 minutes.

In the final comprehensive configuration comparison session, Lei Jun only left Tesla Model Y as a competitor to compare with Xiaomi YU7. It is evident that traditional luxury brands such as Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz are merely competitors that Xiaomi Automobile pays tribute to, with Tesla being the only real competitor.

Screenshot: Xiaomi Automobile Live Stream

Similar to Xiaomi SU7's comparison with Model 3, most parameters and configurations of Xiaomi YU7 are leading.

Although Xiaomi YU7 will officially go on sale in July, based on the brand's tone, Electric Vehicle News believes that Xiaomi YU7's starting price will be lower than Tesla Model Y's rear-wheel-drive version of 263,500 yuan, falling within the price range of 240,000-250,000 yuan.

This price range happens to be the most fiercely competitive segment in the high-end pure electric SUV market. Tesla Model Y has already been "besieged" by multiple domestic cars, but not many pure electric domestic cars can truly shake its position. Most domestic brands rely on hybrid SUVs to seize a small portion of Model Y's market share.

Tesla should indeed be worried this time.

After Xiaomi YU7's launch, it will join Xiaomi SU7 in competing in the 200,000-300,000 yuan pure electric vehicle market. Can Xiaomi YU7 replicate Xiaomi SU7's sales success? Electric Vehicle News believes it is very likely.

In this price range, many domestic pure electric SUVs have achieved relatively outstanding results after their launch, such as Zeekr 7X and IM Motors R7. However, due to their relatively weaker brand influence, they struggle to maintain strong subsequent growth. Xiaomi, with its strong brand effect and market recognition from its 3C background, has an advantage. The success of Xiaomi SU7 is not only due to its own capabilities but also to the contribution of the brand, enabling it to "dethrone" Model 3.

Today, Xiaomi Automobile continues to target Tesla, and Xiaomi YU7 has a high degree of overlap with Tesla Model Y. Regarding brand influence, it's hard to say which is stronger, but Xiaomi Automobile's emergence has indeed significantly impacted Tesla's dominant position. Coupled with the SUV form factor of YU7, it is very popular in the Chinese market where bigger is considered better.

Additionally, the news that "Xiaomi YU7 will be launched in July" also demonstrates Lei Jun's confidence in Xiaomi YU7.

Screenshot: Xiaomi Automobile Live Stream

Xiaomi YU7 was announced at the end of last year, but it did not rush to launch after the new version of Model Y hit the market due to capacity issues. Currently, Xiaomi's Phase I factory is operating beyond capacity. If it were hastily launched, it would indirectly affect the delivery schedule of Xiaomi SU7 and might even trigger negative public opinion. It is better to wait for the Phase II factory, which will commence production in June this year.

At least in Lei Jun's view, the capacity of one factory cannot support the market demand for both Xiaomi SU7 and Xiaomi YU7.

The competition between Xiaomi and Tesla will continue, and the most exciting part of this battle will come in the second half of the year. Whether it will be a new king's coronation or an old warrior's enduring glory, time will tell.

(Cover Image Source: LeTech/Electric Vehicle News Live Coverage)

Source: LeTech