Earlier this year, Xiaomi, one of the world’s leading smartphone companies and now also one of the hottest EV makers in China, revealed that its upgraded SU7 electric sports sedan received more than 100,000 pre-orders within 15 days of pre-sales starting.
Now, the car has officially gone on sale in China with 15,000 customers ordering a car in just 34 minutes of its on-sale price reveal.
On the company’s Weibo page, the brand shared this milestone: “15,000 units were sold in 34 minutes. #NewGenerationSU7# Thank you for your support.”
The original SU7 overtook the Tesla Model 3 with 258,164 sales to become China’s best-selling sedan in 2025, with 2026 likely to look the same for this popular electric sports sedan.
With prices of the upgraded model starting at the equivalent of $A45,400, it is higher than the original model, which started deliveries less than two years ago.
Key upgrades to the upcoming 2026 model include an upgraded battery and range, with the new battery delivering up to 902 km of CLTC range, which is expected to be over 750 km of WLTP range.
The upgraded battery uses CATL’s second-gen Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt (NMC) Qilin battery with a capacity for 101 kWh and can be charged from 10-80% in around 11 minutes and can add 670 km of CLTC range in just 15 minutes.
BYD is also supplying Lithium-Iron-Phosphate (LFP) battery packs for entry-level models geared for everyday driving.
On the Performance front, all models come with an upgraded V6S Plus motor, which in the Max variant produces 508 kW.
When it comes to safety, Xiaomi has improved the chassis, which now uses 2,200 MPa high-strength steel and has upped the number of airbags to nine.
Autonomous driving tech has also seen upgrades, with all models now coming with LiDAR units and a high-end computing chip with 700 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second).
On the styling front, there are new colours, including a new blue and red paint. There are also updates to the wheel styling.
One area that has seen a big update has been in the powered frunk department, where the car can open the frunk via a button, external voice commangs or with the car’s app. This makes the frunk a whole lot more accessible and hence will be used more often.
Inside, a black theme is available along with more comfort-focused seats. Xiaomi has also put effort into cabin noise isolation, which was already fairly good compared to other sedans on the market.
The company started deliveries of its four-door electric sedan, the SU7, in April 2024, shortly after the vehicle was unveiled.
In November 2024, the 100,000 delivery milestone was reached, meeting its original target for the year. It finished the year with sales of 143,000 and a 2025 target of more than 300,000.
Then, in 2025, it hit 411,800 sales thanks to both the SU7 Sedan and the YU7 SUV, which saw the brand’s popularity surge.
Previously, the brand has hinted that 2027 is the year for global expansion, but it could even be sooner in some Western markets.
Having seen Xiaomi’s cars up close on recent trips to China, it’s clear that the brand has much bigger ambitions than just being one of the top 3 phone manufacturers in the world. The new model certainly does take it up a notch, and these upgrades are likely to head globally as well.
With the new SU7 already seeing stronger-than-expected order numbers, it’s clear that the product is exceeding the expectations of hundreds of thousands of customers in China.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.