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Typesetting: Chen Yujie

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Produced by Qiancheng Digital Intelligence (Effective Marketing Intelligence Agency)

Amidst countless doubts, Lei Jun, Chairman of Xiaomi Automobile, was expected to continue his period of "seclusion." However, on the evening of May 22, at Xiaomi's 15th-anniversary technology conference, he stood alone on stage for 2 hours and 10 minutes, introducing the Xuanjie O1 chip and Xiaomi YU7.

"This has been the most difficult period since founding Xiaomi," Lei Jun said emotionally, unable to conceal the worry and anxiety in his eyes. However, these emotions were fleeting, and for the most part, he remained as passionate as when he unveiled the SU7, mentioning Tesla multiple times.

The only difference was that Xiaomi YU7 did not announce its price or open small reservations. This conference focused solely on introducing the design, configuration, and safety of the new car.

More importantly, at the end of the conference, Lei Jun solemnly announced Xiaomi Elite Driving Advanced Training, aimed at helping users improve their driving and handling skills. This course will be offered free of charge to the first 10,000 Xiaomi car owners. He also applied mobile phone camera technology to YU7, ensuring clearer vision for users during night driving.

This may be Lei Jun's response to previous intelligent driving accidents. The imperfections of SU7 will be iterated and improved upon in YU7. As Lei Jun noted, "Today's Xiaomi definitely has many imperfections and unsatisfactory aspects. In the next five years, we promise to deliver a better answer with more solid growth."

The true "new starting point" begins with the courage to admit imperfection. Starting with Xiaomi YU7, Xiaomi will turn every setback into a cornerstone for a higher future.

Punching Tesla, Kicking Ferrari

At the conference, Lei Jun did not shout "disrupt the industry" everywhere, but Xiaomi YU7 was benchmarked against the best.

In Lei Jun's explanation, the appearance of the car took up a significant portion. He was the first to unveil the color scheme of the new car, announcing three colors: emerald green, titanium metal, and lava orange. Among them, emerald green seemed to be his favorite color, and it was also an emerald green YU7 that drove onto the stage during the final unveiling of the new car.

Lei Jun explained that the inspiration for emerald green comes from Colombian emeralds, which are perfectly restored with a double-layer paint process to give the emeralds a premium texture.

Interestingly, when Xiaomi YU7 was unveiled and green was chosen as the launch color, Ferrari officially posted a message celebrating the 80th birthday of current Ferrari Vice Chairman Piero Ferrari, unveiling a specially customized green Purosangue model (painted Verde Dora), inspired by the 400 Superamerica once owned by Enzo Ferrari, emphasizing its family heritage and brand spirit.

This inevitably reminds people of the series of collaborations between Xiaomi SU7 and Porsche when it was launched. Although it was later labeled as a "tribute," it has to be said that Lei Jun still understands what Chinese consumers like.

If Xiaomi YU7 is a "covert imitation" in design, then in terms of performance and endurance, Lei Jun openly benchmarks Tesla and Porsche.

According to official information, Xiaomi YU7 comes in two-wheel drive, four-wheel drive, and performance four-wheel drive versions. The performance four-wheel drive version boasts a maximum horsepower of 690 PS, a peak power of 508 kW, and a 0-100 km/h acceleration time of 3.23 seconds (including start-up time), with a top speed of 253 km/h. Its dynamic performance comprehensively surpasses that of the Tesla Model Y Performance and Macan Electric Turbo, which are priced at 354,900 yuan and 968,000 yuan, respectively. In terms of braking distance, Xiaomi YU7 has a shortest 100 km/h-0 braking distance of 33.9 m, comparable to Porsche.

In terms of endurance, Xiaomi YU7 has become the "double first" in endurance among mid-to-large pure electric SUVs and four-wheel drive pure electric SUVs. The entry-level standard version has an endurance of 835 km, while the Pro and Max versions, both four-wheel drive configurations, have CLTC endurances of up to 760 km and 770 km, respectively.

In terms of smart cabins, Xiaomi YU7's "Skyline Screen Panoramic Display" directly "outpaces" BMW. This feature was first introduced by BMW, which calls it "Head-Up Display with Level Display." Although they have different names, they mean the same thing: projecting speed, navigation, driving mode, and driving assistance information onto the black reflective strip at the bottom of the windshield.

At the 2025 Shanghai Auto Show, BMW's booth also displayed a giant model of PHUD (Panoramic Head-Up Display), claiming that it would be delivered by the end of the year or early next year. However, one month later, Xiaomi YU7 went into mass production directly.

Although Xiaomi YU7 is striving for excellence in performance, endurance, and smart cabins, Lei Jun is cautious and pragmatic in terms of safety and assisted driving. This may be the result of Xiaomi's reflection.

In terms of assisted driving, the new car is equipped with the 700 TOPS NVIDIA Thor chip, comes standard with lidar and 4D millimeter-wave radar, and has 11 high-definition cameras and 12 ultrasonic radars. To some extent, the integration of 4D millimeter-wave radar can compensate for the deficiencies of lidar and cameras and improve safety.

In terms of passive safety, Xiaomi YU7 uses hot-formed steel with a strength of 2200 MPa, jointly developed by Xiaomi and its partners. Drawing inspiration from the roll cage design concept, this type of steel is embedded into the A-pillar and B-pillar through hot gas expansion tube technology, ensuring the safety of the passenger compartment during a collision.

Price Not Announced, Scalpers Come for Nothing

Xiaomi YU7 has become popular before it is even sold.

The day before Xiaomi YU7's pre-launch, a large number of links for proxy snatching services emerged on second-hand trading platforms. The pages displayed terms such as exclusive purchase qualifications, internal channels, first batch of car pickups, and Founding Edition F codes. Some sellers even claimed to have "cheating software" that could lock in priority purchase rights for the first batch of cars in advance.

However, on the eve of the May 22 conference, Lei Jun posted on Weibo that the pre-launch conference would not announce the official price and would not open small reservations. This directly left the "scalpers" empty-handed.

This reflects from the side that consumers still have hope for Xiaomi YU7. Some industry insiders even said, "There is no doubt that Xiaomi YU7 will become a hit."

Although many netizens said, "Without releasing the price, Xiaomi has released nothing." In fact, not announcing the price but only announcing the configuration is the standard operation of most automakers when launching products, which facilitates automakers to observe market feedback and adjust their pricing strategies accordingly.

Industry insiders pointed out two benefits of Xiaomi's decision not to disclose the price and not to open small reservations this time: First, it gives Xiaomi Automobile, which has been controversial, sufficient time to solve capacity issues. It is understood that there are still many orders for Xiaomi SU7 that have not been delivered; Second, it catches competitors off guard, leaving them with no way to respond. In the eyes of competitors, Xiaomi, with its large traffic, is a "dangerous" presence. If they knew the price of YU7 in advance, they might lower their prices in advance to respond to the challenge.

Although the price has not been announced, Lei Jun joked that it is impossible to sell it for 199,000 yuan and that it is almost 300,000 yuan. Coupled with its frequent benchmarking of the Tesla Model Y, most netizens predict that the price of this car will be between 209,800 yuan and 245,900 yuan, with the top-of-the-line model reaching 300,000 yuan.

Competition in this market segment is fierce. According to data from the Passenger Car Association, in the first four months of 2025, sales of mid-to-large SUVs reached 254,000 units, with a year-on-year decline of 18.9%. However, the new energy SUV market in the 200,000 to 300,000 yuan price range showed double-digit positive growth year-on-year.

Although the Model Y continues to dominate the "big brother" position, many brands are eyeing this market. For example, Zeekr 7X, IM Motor LS6, AVATR 07, IMAX R7, etc.

If the scope is widened, there are even more "Series 9" cars competing for this market segment. Huawei-enabled all-family smart flagship Deep Blue S09 takes "Huawei Intelligent Driving + HarmonyOS Cabin" as its core selling point, targeting the 300,000-yuan family travel market. Geely Galaxy L9 enters the market with a "200,000-yuan price + 400,000-yuan configuration," offering a CLTC pure electric endurance of 280 km and a comprehensive endurance of 1,412 km, surpassing that of Li Auto L9. Although they do not have the traffic support of Lei Jun, their advantages are also prominent.

Competition in the mid-to-large new energy SUV market is still fierce, and the addition of Xiaomi YU7 may make competitors afraid. However, as a "latecomer," Xiaomi YU7 also faces significant competition.

But Lei Jun said, "It is always imperfect at the beginning and will always be ridiculed. But the world will not always be dominated by the strong, and the latecomers will always surpass!"

When Lei Jun, dressed in a white suit, stood on stage at the end of the conference and shouted "Only in strong winds do we know the strength of grass, and only over long distances do we know a horse's stamina," a new starting point for Lei Jun and Xiaomi quietly arrived.