Xiaomi's Striking SU7 Ultra on Track to Be a Global EV Success

This year at MWC, one of the most exciting booths to tour belonged to Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi. Not only did the company have the new Xiaomi 15 Ultra and a modular camera concept on display, but a new car, the SU7 Ultra, in addition to the SU7 we saw last year at the show.

Announced just the week prior to the mobile show, the model on display at the Xiaomi stand drew crowds of admirers with its sporty "lightning yellow" paint job. Positioned next to the same blue SU7 we first saw last year, the EV has a noticeably sleeker and more sporty profile. This is the performance version of the car, and the prototype has already broken the lap record for a four-door sedan on the Nürburgring, with an official attempt using a production model scheduled for later this year.

Xiaomi's move into the EV market has been an astonishingly successful and bold sideways maneuver for the company. By the end of 2024 it had delivered 135,000 units of the SU7, and within two hours of launching the SU7 Ultra last month it had sold over 10,000 units of the new EV. The company has also achieved something unique in the tech world, by succeeding in making a car and bringing it to market where others have either failed (sorry Apple), or are making laboriously slow progress (looking at you, Sony). 

Xiaomi has succeeded where other tech companies have failed.

Katie Collins/CNET

The reason that Xiaomi has bucked the trend and managed to push so aggressively and successfully into the EV market is largely due to the fact that the company's CEO Lei Jun has made it a priority, according to Daniel Desjarlais, the company's global spokesperson. "Having him hands on for the project has been part of the reason that we're doing so well," he said in a media briefing. "He's the secret sauce."

At an MWC press conference this week, Xiaomi's President William Lu announced that the company plans to sell its EVs globally within the next few years. This is likely to take more time than Xiaomi would like, but it seems prepared to stay the course. "Obviously, there are a lot of complexities trying to get a product like a car into global markets," said TJ Walton, the company's senior product marketing manager. "It's got a lot more pieces [and] a lot more complex technology than a smartphone does."

Exactly where Xiaomi's cars might land when they do go global is still to be confirmed, but Europe looks to be a likely target. "The EU is one of the regions around the world that is pushing the hardest to move strictly to EVs," said Desjarlais. This presents "a massive opportunity," although he added that Xiaomi will have to examine the regulatory challenges closely.

Xiaomi could bring its cars to Europe.

Katie Collins/CNET

As for the US, that might be tricky – especially with the Trump administration targeting Chinese companies with tariffs. "That's something that we're always going to be examining, and something that we're always going to want to do," said Desjarlais in a potential move into the US. "Whether or not we will is something that you have to stay tuned for more information [on] in the future."

In some ways, it feels like Xiaomi is just getting started. In China, it sells a massive ecosystem of AI-connected products, and there are plans to make its large appliances available globally in the coming years too. 

That's to mention nothing of the upcoming launch of the YU7, a mid-size electric SUV that the company has in the pipeline to round out its EV series. Already the YU7 is being touted as a rival to Tesla's Model Y, and with the SU7 outselling the Tesla Model 3 in China between April 2024 and January 2025, and Tesla sales widely reported to be declining in Europe, Xiaomi looks poised to become a serious competitor in the global EV space in the coming years.