The most popular car you’ve never heard of

Xiaomi opened orders for the five-seat YU7 SUV earlier this week, with prices for the Model Y-sized EV starting from 253,500 yuan – right in the wheelhouse of the 263,500 yuan Tesla.

However, not even Xiaomi could have predicted just how popular it would be, with company founder and CEO Lei Jun announcing massive interest in the YU7.

“My goodness, in just two minutes, we received 196,000 paid pre-orders and 128,000 lock-in orders,” Lei said in a video after it launched last week. “We may be witnessing a miracle in China’s automotive industry.”

While not every one of the orders guarantees a sold vehicle, the circa-325,000 combined paid pre-orders and expressions of interest represents more than all vehicle sales in Australia between January and March 2025.

It could also put a big strain on Xiaomi’s current production capacity of 150,000 vehicles, however a second factory with equal capacity is due to start operations within weeks.

Of course, China is a significantly larger market, with the almost 18 million vehicles it produces and sells locally annually representing about two-thirds of the nation’s overall domestic sales.

Last year, Tesla sold 480,309 examples of the Model Y in China, with all of those – as well as the versions of the electric SUV sold in Australia – being produced at its Shanghai factory.

Like the Model Y’s relation to the Model 3 sedan, the YU7 is closely related to the SU7 sedan, based on the same Modena platform and offering similar electric motor and battery combinations.

Variants start with the entry-level self-named YU7, producing 235kW and 528Nm from its rear electric motor, fed by a 96.3kWh LFP battery. The step-higher Pro adds a front electric motor, increasing outputs to 365kW and 690Nm.

At the top of the range is the YU7 Max, which uses a 101.7kWh NMC battery to feed two more powerful electric motors, capable of producing up to 508kW and 866Nm.

The YU7 sadly has no answer to the SU7’s Ultra variant, which can pump out approximately 1140kW, propelling it to the top of the EV lap-time leaderboard around the Nürburgring Nordschleife.