I think this is very interesting.
Cars have always fascinated me, partly because they can be so fast.
Now that the Chinese are actually involved in the automobile industry, they have introduced a new dimension: they have made the entire industry extremely fast.
I sat here and wrote intelligently and in depth about a car you've never heard of (another one!).
Guido, or is it called Jiwi?
The car that debuted as the RoboCar Robo-01 Lunar Exploration Limited Edition then, almost without us noticing, launched its first real production model just before Christmas – and they then reduced its price by around NOK 50,000 a few weeks later (“Because it We miscalculated a bit.” Then they came up with another new design – a Red Dot award-winning body design, just before Christmas
I intended to title the article about this phenomenon “Where did it come from?” (Relax – the article will come, comprehensive and good) But then I had to postpone the project because another species of this species appeared. Where on earth did it come from?
Its location is in Oslo
Yes, as I said, it comes from Xiaomi, which, for example, Polestar, Lotus, Nio, Voyah and Xpeng, also has a flagship store in central Oslo.
Just that they don't have a car in their cars.
Until now.
That's about to change, because when Xiaomi boss Lei Jun unleashed his SU7 three days before the new year, he promised that the company would become one of the world's top five automakers within 15 to 20 years and become a growth engine. In the entire Chinese automobile industry and also building a dream car that can be compared to Porsche and Tesla (!!).
In Chinese financial circles, there has long been talk of investing ten billion yuan there in a fairly short time, and that they are aiming for a production volume of 100 thousand cars in the first year.
In this case, they would have to buy this service from BAIC in Beijing – Xiaomi is quite far from obtaining any production license yet.
But this can be solved. Nio bought production capacity at other plants until it became an independent producer in October this year.
It is not understood that Xiaomi does not produce.
But not cars.
The third largest on mobile phones
Since its launch in 2010, it has become the world's number three mobile phone company after Samsung and Apple. They also have a huge selection of electronic products and white goods. Smart vacuum cleaners monitor your entire home – many products are also sold under the Mi brand name.
Among the things they've developed along the way, for example, are “electric hypermotors” that should be able to accelerate faster than the engines in both Porsche and Tesla.
By the way, it's worth noting that there was a glaring lack of technical detail during the long introduction – three hours I thought was probably more than enough – but at least I understood that the SU in the model name stands for Speed Ultra!
Hyper OS
The car is also said to share the operating system with the company's phones, kitchen appliances and other electronic devices. It's called HyperOS. Now, I may have mentioned on the occasional occasion that this isn't exactly my forte, but apparently this particular area is a bit interesting because it may seem less intimidating than other Chinese operating systems.
Xiaomi has supposedly relied on Google's Android since its inception. Does this make us friendlier towards them?
But let's go back in time 1003 days.
On March 30, in another celebratory event, Lei Jun said that they would invest in a car that would be mass-produced from the first quarter of 2024. Everyone forgot about it, although some loose spy photos have emerged this fall.
There wasn't much fanfare when they registered XiaomiEV.com in August either.
Infusion from MIIT
But then came the usual detailed leak from MIIT – the government ministry that approves cars being put on the market, and we woke up a bit.
At that time it was known that it was to be called SU7, that its code name was MS11 and that it was to be produced by BAIC.
The details from MIIT were surprisingly detailed, for example, I got a photo of a special edition: the “Founders Edition”, and there were a number of photos of the active rear wing and it was shown with or without lidar behind the windshield.
MIIT is good in terms of dimensions and weight too: 4997x1963x1455 and a wheelbase of 3000 mm.
The front measures a small 105, while capacity at the rear is 517 litres. Wheels are either 19 or 20 inches, 245/45 or 245/40
Shockingly, Xiaomi has already named its new platform: Modena.
The car with the minimum equipment weighs 1,980 kg and has a top speed of 210 km/h.
The luxury version weighs 2,205 kg and accelerates to 265 km/h. To 100 it takes 2.78 seconds.
Rear or four-wheel drive
According to the authorities, there are two drivetrain options: rear-wheel drive with a 220 kW engine or all-wheel drive with 220 + 275 kW. The batteries come from BYD and have a capacity of 73.6 kWh for the simple version and from CATL with a power of 101 kWh for the expensive version.
In China, the range reaches 668 and 800 kilometers, respectively.
The approval authorities even gave us the name of the engine: TZ220XS000, and added that the three versions of the car will be called SU7, SU7 Pro and SU7 Max.
Inside, of course, there's a party going on, beyond what you might expect today – because here the electronics specialists have already added all the extras.
16.1-inch central screen with 3K resolution. The 7.1-inch instrument panel and navigation are routed via a 56-inch HUD. Behind there are two displays, actually regular Mi pads.
The driving support system is called Xiaomi Pilot, which retrieves information from e.g. Lidar, radar, 11 high-resolution cameras and 12 ultrasonic radars. Urban automated driving in 100 Chinese cities by the end of 2024.
(case continues)
But back to the softer values:
Xiaomi has appointed Li Tianyan as head of design. He comes from BMW where, among other things, he was very active in the Vision Circular concept. He is accompanied, among others, by James Chiu, former Mercedes-Benz director who is pivotal to the Vision EQXX concept.
Beautiful? It's always possible to debate, but I think this is probably one of the less boring TV series. At least the chassis is efficient: a drag coefficient of 0.195 is impressive if true.
Lee Joon also visited the award during his presentation, which lasted about 200 minutes.
– Don't hesitate, he said among other things.
– Of course it won't cost 140,000 yuan (about $20,000) – Here you have to show some respect for all the technology inside.
– The price may be a little high, but it will be a price that everyone will understand is fair.
When he says “everyone”, I think he is thinking about the hundreds of millions of MI fans who may be convinced that the new Xiaomi phone is not something as simple as a car, but a new must-have smart gadget.
But the stock market was not convinced.
After the partisan performance, the stock lost the gains it had accumulated earlier and closed down 0.3 percent.
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