Chinese EV maker annoys owners twice in a week

The SU7 Ultra is the brand’s flagship EV, with a Tesla Model S Plaid-rivalling power output of 1139kW, good for a claimed 0-100km/h sprint of under two seconds.

That is, provided all power is available, which owners of the EV found wasn’t last week.

An over-the-air update performed on the SU7 Ultra in China limited its power output to ‘only’ 662kW, and prevented drivers from using its launch control function before certain conditions were met.

Only when owners completed a “qualifying mode lap time assessment” on an approved race track could the full power output and launch control system be activated.

While Xiaomi told Car News China the changes were based around safety concerns, uproar from its customer base led the brand to apologise and roll out a subsequent update, restoring the full outputs.

Despite seemingly getting back on the good side of its customers, Xiaomi then found itself in hot water again, this time due to an optional part.

According to Car News China, owners of the SU7 Ultra were offered a carbon fibre bonnet with ducts for an extra ¥42,000 (A$9000), mimicking the unit found on the prototype which broke the Nürburgring’s unofficial EV record.

There’s one small problem though – the bonnet ducts are fake.

Though Xiaomi markets the bonnet ducts as a “track-level cooling design”, tests conducted by the publication and owners found they didn’t channel any air to the brakes.

This prompted Xiaomi to issue another apology, this time for failing to tell owners the ducts were purely a cosmetic accessory, rather than a functional part.

The brand additionally offered customers who had yet to take delivery the chance to switch back to the standard aluminium, non-vented bonnet, or those who already had their cars 20,000 reward points – equivalent to ¥2000 (A$430).

These two instances are the latest of perceived deceit by the brand, which used a heavily modified version of the SU7 Ultra to break the aforementioned – but unofficial – Nürburgring record.

While most brands fit their record-breaking vehicles with grippier tyres and a roll cage, Xiaomi went even further, with the track monster getting even wilder aerodynamic parts.