In the Nürburgring Nordschleife, Chinese performance cars break through the siege.

The Nürburgring Nordschleife, a racetrack dominated by foreign brands, has now witnessed the entry of a Chinese vehicle.

On October 28, the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra prototype achieved a time of 6 minutes, 46 seconds, and 874 milliseconds, becoming the fastest four-door vehicle in Nürburgring history and setting a new performance benchmark for Chinese automobiles.

The day after the Nürburgring race, the production version of the SU7 Ultra opened for reservations with a pre-sale price of 814,900 yuan. In March 2025, consumers will be able to enjoy the same performance and handling experience as the fastest four-door vehicle at Nürburgring.

This is the first production vehicle that can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h within the 1-second range and from 0 to 200 km/h within the 5-second range. It is also the only production vehicle within one million yuan that can reach a top speed of 350 km/h.

These are highly significant figures. Those familiar with electric vehicles know that exceeding 200 km/h, especially entering the 300 km/h speed range, has always been a "no man's land" for pure electric vehicles. Even the fuel-powered Porsche 911 Trubo S, known for its performance and with a starting price of 2.363 million yuan, has a top speed of only 330 km/h and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.8 seconds.

The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra not only crossed this "no man's land" but also entered the "extreme speed" and "super high speed" territory that was previously the exclusive domain of fuel-powered vehicles. And Xiaomi achieved all this in just three years.

Such a dark horse is often more intimidating than the dominant players. But Xiaomi's progress does not stop here. The 6 minutes, 46 seconds, and 874 milliseconds is just the beginning. Xiaomi's next goal is to use the production version of the SU7 Ultra to compete at Nürburgring again.

With down-to-earth steps, Xiaomi is doing an incredible thing.

A Milestone Product in Chinese Automotive History

In the Volkswagen definition of a performance vehicle, it needs to have a strong power, the ability to maintain high-speed driving continuously, and excellent handling.

In the era when fuel-powered vehicles dominated the market, performance vehicles were often directly associated with large-displacement engines. Fossil fuels could provide long-lasting and sufficient explosive power for fuel-powered performance vehicles.

Although the physical properties of electric motors provide a better starting speed than gasoline vehicles, electric vehicles have always been considered to lack performance genes.

On one hand, excessive heat caused by high speed can directly reduce the output power of the battery and the motor. After a 400-horsepower electric vehicle drives at a speed of 120 km/h for an hour, the effective horsepower that the motor can provide is almost halved.

On the other hand, due to the heavy body weight, in ultra-high-speed conditions, the energy consumption level of electric vehicles will increase sharply, and ordinary batteries may even be unable to support the vehicle to complete the entire racetrack.

Therefore, in the past decade, only seven electric vehicles have made it onto the Nürburgring lap time list, and only three of them are four-door models with a larger weight.

The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra prototype is the eighth electric vehicle to make it onto the Nürburgring lap time list. With a time of 6 minutes, 46 seconds, and 874 milliseconds, it set a new record as the "fastest four-door vehicle in Nürburgring history" upon its first appearance.

Xiaomi's "fastest" is not simple. In the unedited track video, the SU7 Ultra prototype vehicle, after a grueling six-minute battle, still achieved a sprint speed of up to 330 km/h at the end of the track. Under continuous high-heat conditions, the SU7 Ultra prototype vehicle can still stably output high power and maintain high-speed driving.

This is a huge challenge for electric vehicles.

To reach 330 or even 350 km/h, Xiaomi first needs to increase the motor power. In theory, as long as the number of motors is increased, it is not difficult to increase the power. Many models with similar performance to the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra use a four-motor configuration.

The four-motor is a naturally winning configuration, not only providing a higher total rated power, but also having a more compact transmission structure, higher power transmission efficiency, and greater operational space in chassis and body control.

But Xiaomi chose a more challenging path - developing a motor with superior performance.

The upper limit of the motor output power depends on the rotational speed. This is not a simple issue of increasing the voltage and current. Xiaomi must start from the stator, rotor, and other electromagnetic materials and circuit designs at the root of the motor.

As of January 2024, Xiaomi has a total of 155 motor patents, of which 60 have been authorized. These patents cover motor design, control systems, and energy efficiency optimization.

The V8s motor with a rotational speed of up to 27,200 rpm on the SU7 Ultra prototype is Xiaomi's 100% self-developed technological achievement and is also one of the leading drive motors in the industry.

The high-performance motor allows Xiaomi to achieve more outstanding results with a simpler configuration. Using two V8s and one V6s motors, the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra prototype generates 1,548 horsepower, achieving a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 1.98 seconds and a top speed of 350 km/h.

The three-motor configuration also poses another problem for Xiaomi: uneven energy distribution.

Due to the balanced distribution and the ability to be controlled separately, the four-motor configuration is more superior in stability and is also considered to have a higher tuning ceiling. Using a three-motor configuration, Xiaomi not only needs to accurately detect and control each motor, but also needs to achieve power and torque balance through a central controller. For this reason, Xiaomi has independently developed an electronic control torque vector control system, which can complete 500 independent torque controls per second, improving the vehicle's handling and stability.

The joint improvement of software and hardware capabilities provides a high-performance foundation for Xiaomi. But to achieve a truly high-power output, Xiaomi also needs a battery with superior performance. The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra is equipped with the Kirin 2 battery from CATL. This is also the peak product of China's power battery. It has a maximum discharge rate of 16C and a maximum discharge power of 1,330 kW. When the battery power is 20% remaining, the discharge power can still reach 800 kW.

The lap time record has refreshed the upper limit of China's automotive research and development and manufacturing, the price demonstrates the price competitiveness of the supply chain, and the entrepreneurial period of only three years is the best result of the efficient collaboration of the industrial chain. The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, which fills the gap of high-performance electric vehicles in China, can be regarded as a milestone product in Chinese automotive history.

In an Impetuous Era, Car Manufacturing Requires Deep Cultivation

Xiaomi's Nürburgring result is not an ordinary inspirational story.

As a globally renowned racing mecca, to conduct vehicle tests at the Nürburgring, it usually requires an advance reservation of one year. As early as January this year, Xiaomi reserved the track for two days, October 9 and 10, for exclusive testing.

Unfortunately, it rained on these two days. Due to the water on the track, during the two days of the reservation, Xiaomi was unable to conduct a complete lap test. Later, the gap times coordinated through various channels were also not able to be used for testing as desired due to weather, wind direction and other site reasons.

The team was once anxious about this. Xiaomi's driver Ren Zhoucan even sighed: "Just give me 10 minutes, no, 7 minutes will do."

Finally, Xiaomi got an opportunity. The test on October 28 was Xiaomi's first official lap time test. Even though 20% of the track was still slippery, Xiaomi had to cherish this last chance before the launch.

In the first and only official lap, the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra prototype vehicle achieved a time of 6 minutes, 46 seconds, and 874 milliseconds. This was a major test without prior exploration.

Xiaomi, which has only been in the car manufacturing business for three years, does not have a magic formula. It is just "looking up to the stars while keeping its feet on the ground". Whether it is building its own factory, independently developing the 9,100-ton large die-casting cluster, or laying out the third-generation motor and fully independent developing intelligent driving, since the beginning of Xiaomi's car manufacturing, it has firmly invested heavily in the underlying core technologies. Every action is centered around the goal of "seriously building a good vehicle".

Behind the Nürburgring campaign, Xiaomi's aim is to continue to improve the quality of the vehicle. Therefore, the exterior design of the SU7 Ultra prototype is derived from the SU7, and the motor technology is also in the same line as the SU7. The power system of the Nürburgring prototype is intact in the production version of the SU7 Ultra. At the same time, the production version of the SU7 Ultra has also started to be tuned at Nürburgring in June this year. Lei Jun also repeatedly emphasized at the launch that the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra production vehicle is a performance vehicle that is "suitable for both the street and the track".

It is no exaggeration to say that this "M-Power" of Xiaomi provides consumers with an opportunity that is infinitely close to the Nürburgring track. Behind this is Xiaomi's action of investing heavily and starting from the underlying core technologies in a down-to-earth manner. In a live stream after the launch, Lei Jun revealed that as of the end of September 2024, Xiaomi's R & D investment in the SU7 has reached 13 billion yuan.

The Battle for the Dominance of Automotive Technology

The great success of a vehicle must be built on a strong automotive industry chain. The battery that supports the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra to complete the Nürburgring lap comes from CATL. Therefore, it can be said that the "Nürburgring moment" of 6 minutes, 46 seconds, and 874 milliseconds is not only the victory of the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, nor just the victory of Xiaomi alone, but a collective victory of the Chinese automotive industry chain.

In order to achieve higher sales, automakers explore in the direction that consumers are willing to pay for. In the Chinese market, where family users are the mainstream consumer group, new vehicles have made rapid progress in comfort and intelligence. International renowned automakers also use Chinese brands as an important reference for new vehicle development.

However, the racing vehicle, the jewel in the crown of the automotive industry, has not yet been engraved with the name of a Chinese brand.

But the breakthrough has already begun. Lynk & Co 03 under Geely Automobile won the 2024 WTCC World Touring Car Championship Annual Championship, and the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra prototype became the fastest four-door vehicle in Nürburgring history. In the racing fields dominated by European and American automakers, domestic automakers have completed a direct overtaking.

Like Xiaomi, the Yangwang U9 team has also been stationed at Nürburgring for half a year. The usage fee of the Nürburgring is also quite high, charged by the minute, about 90 euros per minute, and the cost of reserving the track for a day exceeds one million yuan.

The effective usage time also depends on uncontrollable factors such as weather and ground humidity. To conduct automotive research and development at Nürburgring on a regular basis, Xiaomi and BYD also need to face a series of problems such as setting up a research and development location locally, arranging related equipment, and bearing the cost of long-distance communication between China and Germany.

Regardless of the cost, to become a regular at Nürburgring, Xiaomi and BYD are not only to prove the ability of Chinese vehicles, but also to bring better products and experiences to thousands of consumers in the Chinese market, allowing Chinese automakers to move away from the "cost-performance involution" competition and confront international automakers head-on in the hard power of car manufacturing.

In the global electric vehicle market dominated by Tesla, the energy of Chinese automobiles is expanding. Ford CEO Jim Farley had the Xiaomi SU7 air-freighted from Shanghai, China to Chicago, USA. After using it for half a year, he said that he "is reluctant to change the vehicle". In the third quarter of this year, BYD's single-quarter revenue has exceeded Tesla's by 21.6 billion yuan.

The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra prototype's victory over Porsche at