Frantic.
This is how we could define Xiaomi’s calendar in the automobile market.
On Thursday, December 28, 2023Xiaomi publicly presented the Xiaomi SU7, its first electric car. He did it with a presentation as the occasion deserved. Hours (literally) breaking down each and every detail that made his first electric car unique.
The brand turned the industry upside down. And his car directly attacked Tesla and Porsche. Its promises were to perform the same as any of the two reference electric cars for its market (Tesla Model S and Porsche Taycan) for a fraction of its price.
We could think that it was just another coming out. An important one, yes, because it is not every day that a “mobile brand” becomes part of a new industry, let alone the automotive industry. But the thing is that the Xiaomi SU7 was already beginning to get ahead of all of us who live outside of China, who work and live at a different pace there.
Today, with the renewal of the Xiaomi SU7 we have confirmation of what, indeed, was already more than confirmed.
The boiler of the Chinese electric car
If the Chinese electric car were a boiler, we could say that it is operating at full capacity. So high that it seems about to explode with the number of cars that are feeding it.
In the traditional industry, what we could understand as the European automobile industry, it had been accepted that work was done at very specific rates. Generally, a car had two or three years of development. It was launched on the market and sales supported it for two or three years. After this time, commercial life began to languish, the brand introduced a purely aesthetic redesign to boost sales more or less in the fourth year after launching the car on the market and the public’s embrace responded slightly to, once the seventh year arrived, it introduced a new generation to the market.
These times vary slightly. Advance a facelift to three years if the car was not performing as expected or extend it to five if there was no replacement on the way or sales are going at a good pace. Thus, there are cars whose commercial life can last eight or nine years. Waiting longer for a new generation is a real rarity.
China has blown up these times.
The best example is Xiaomi, although it is by no means the only company that is involved in an infernal maelstrom of launches.
As we said, on December 28, 2023, Xiaomi presented the SU7. Today, 812 days later, it has presented its renewal. In less than two and a half years. And before two years have passed since The first units reached customers in April 2024.
The calendar takes away the hiccups:
In five years, Xiaomi has announced that it was entering the electric car market, it has presented two vehicles and a special and sporty version of one of them. It has just announced the renewal of the first of them.
The new Xiaomi SU7 perfectly fulfills that of “more and better”. On the outside, the details are minor. The grille and new wheel designs focus attention.
Inside, the car is renewed to, according to the brand, improve qualities with greater use of soft plastics. In addition, the design is more similar to that of the Xiaomi YU7 that has led the way in this case. In addition, the seats are changed and ventilation and heating are standard on all models. There are also minor improvements such as changes to the rear seats or the refrigerator that is incorporated into the rear seats.
Mechanically, the Xiaomi SU7 is improved with the HyperEngine V6s Plus engine, which can now reach 22,000 rpm and allows the car to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.08 seconds. The maximum speed is limited to 265 km/h. The battery has also been improved and now has the following maximum ranges according to the Chinese CTLC cycle:
- 720 kilometers of autonomy for the standard.
- 902 kilometers of autonomy for the Pro.
- 835 kilometers of autonomy for the Max.
It must be taken into account that the Chinese CTLC cycle is more optimistic than the European WLTP but Xiaomi is already talking about recovering 670 kilometers in 15 minutes with an improvement in charging power. In addition, the adaptive suspension has been improved, which is now faster and has a wider range of movement, and the brakes that, according to the company, can withstand up to 40 emergency brakings from 100 km/h without fading in the Max version. The less ambitious ones also have larger brakes than It had been one of its negative points.
New interior of the Xiaomi SU7
In terms of software and driving assistance, the Xiaomi SU7 includes the evolution of its assisted driving and parking systems that are now smoother and safer, according to the company. Besides, the infotainment system becomes Xiaomi HyperOS now so the integration with the rest of the devices is better and more fluid, one of the great attractions of the Xiaomi YU7.
The renovation of the Xiaomi SU7 is, therefore, much deeper than what is seen at first glance. It is also an example of the pace at which the electric car industry works in China. Renewal times are very short and sales of the Xiaomi SU7 had already plummeted while waiting for a new version.
As we said, it is by no means the only company that plays with very short cycles. BYD has put so many cars on the market and announced improvements at a rate that has made its own cars obsolete. It is the result of covering the great advances of the competition with a new function, improvement or, directly, launch that can overshadow them.
The result is an industry that responds to customer needs extremely quickly. It is even something that we have noticed in Europe that, as how we count in Xatakahas received Chinese cars that were not liked by the press and the first customers but that have been tuned in record time.
Operating with extremely fast times has the advantage that you can give the client what they want in record time, covering needs in just a few months. But its counterpart is clear. The market is not very clear about what to expect because what is presented today can become obsolete in months, which slows down sales and can turn dealerships into huge warehouses of cars that cannot be released.
Photo | Xiaomi
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