Tag Archives: Xiaomi

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Xiaomi’s Carbon Fiber Fiasco: When Form Fakes Function

You’d think that in 2025, the car industry had learned its lesson about pretending to be something it’s not. Yet, here we are—watching a tech giant better known for smartphones than supercars getting schooled in the fine art of authentic performance.

Xiaomi, still basking in the glow of its much-hyped SU7 and YU7 EVs, has stumbled into a rather sticky legal mess involving what should have been a piece of engineering theatre: the SU7 Ultra’s carbon fiber hood. On paper, it looked the part—carbon weave glistening under showroom lights, aggressive vents screaming “race car.” It was supposed to be a £4,600 slice of cutting-edge aero trickery. Instead, it turned out to be… well, cosplay.

Because when owners decided to peek under the bonnet—literally—they found out that those muscular ducts were about as functional as the hood scoops on a 2000s tuner special. Decorative. Non-breathing. Aerodynamically inert. In short, the vents were fake.

And in China, at least one furious SU7 Ultra owner wasn’t about to let that slide. They sued, claiming false advertising. The court agreed. Twice. A judge in Suzhou upheld a ruling ordering Xiaomi to refund the customer’s ¥20,000 deposit (around $2,800), cough up ¥126,000 ($17,640) in damages, and foot the ¥10,000 ($1,400) legal bill.

For a company the size of Xiaomi, that’s pocket change. But it’s the principle that stings—especially when your brand is built on trust in engineering precision. It’s one thing for a smartphone’s “AI-enhanced cooling vent” to be a decorative flourish; quite another when your supposed track-ready EV’s carbon fiber hood is nothing more than a designer hat.

Xiaomi insists the part was “aesthetic, not functional,” inspired by the brand’s record-breaking SU7 Ultra prototype. To soothe the crowd, they tossed out 20,000 Xiaomi Reward Points to each owner—roughly 2,000 yuan, or $280. A gesture, sure. But when you’ve paid nearly $6,000 for what amounts to carbon fibre wallpaper, a few loyalty points don’t exactly make the air flow any smoother.

The real danger here isn’t the payout—it’s precedent. This wasn’t a class action, just one owner’s case. But now that Xiaomi’s been publicly humbled, you can bet other SU7 Ultra drivers will start doing their own forensic hood inspections.

Because while Xiaomi’s electric ambitions have been impressive—its cars stylish, fast, and surprisingly well-priced—this episode reminds us of a crucial truth: performance isn’t just about how something looks. It’s about how it works.

And when you sell function, but deliver fiction, even the glossiest carbon fiber can’t cover the cracks.

Source: Reuters

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Xiaomi Wants to Be a Top-Five Carmaker – and Europe’s Next Battleground

It wasn’t long ago that Xiaomi was best known for flogging bargain smartphones with suspiciously Apple-like vibes. Fast-forward to 2023 and the Chinese tech giant has suddenly decided it’s a car company – and not just any car company. Nope, Xiaomi wants to be one of the world’s top five carmakers. Bold, considering it’s only built two cars so far. But in China, the brand is already on a tear: more than 80,000 deliveries last quarter, a near-200% annual jump, and a backlog so long you’d be forgiven for thinking they were Birkin handbags, not SUVs.

At the centre of this hype is the SU7 saloon, Xiaomi’s first proper EV – and one benchmarked not against budget runabouts, but the Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model S. Because why start small when you can shoot straight for the Nürburgring? In fact, the company even went ahead and built a 1527bhp “Ultra” version that’s already broken EV lap records there. So, yes, Xiaomi is serious.

Then came the YU7 SUV, which looks like a Tesla Model Y on steroids and is racking up waiting lists north of a year. Orders? A staggering 240,000 within 18 hours of launch. That’s the population of Southampton. And people wonder why the factory in Beijing is creaking like an overworked espresso machine.

The scale of demand is so overwhelming that CEO Lei Jun had to tell customers who couldn’t bear the wait to… well, go buy someone else’s car. Not just any someone, either. He actually recommended the Tesla Model Y and rival Chinese EVs like the Xpeng G7 and Li Auto i8. Imagine Mercedes telling you to go buy a BMW if you can’t wait six months.

Still, the money is rolling in – Xiaomi’s EV division pulled in over £2 billion last quarter – though after a £3 billion splurge to get the thing off the ground, profitability remains more of a concept than a reality.

And now? Now comes the ambitious bit: Xiaomi Auto is eyeing up Europe. By 2027, the SU7 and YU7 are expected to land on our shores, likely with a shinier, more premium price tag to match their Taycan-rivalling specs. The SU7 already offers up to 664bhp and nearly 500 miles of claimed range, while the YU7 SUV stretches that to an eyebrow-raising 519 miles (CLTC, so pinch of salt required). Rear- or twin-motor layouts, various battery sizes, all the digital bells and whistles you’d expect from a tech company turned carmaker – Xiaomi’s recipe is clear: lure in gadget-loving petrolheads who can no longer afford petrol.

But here’s the real kicker. Europe may also get the SU7 Ultra, the fire-breathing, Nürburgring-shredding 1527bhp super-saloon that exists solely to melt tyres and terrify Taycans. Think of it as Xiaomi’s iPhone X moment – pure halo, pure hype.

What about Xiaomi’s next car, the YU9 SUV with its range-extender engine? Don’t hold your breath. The brand seems more interested in dazzling Europe with its pure EVs before wheeling out something that smells faintly of petrol.

So, is Xiaomi about to storm Europe the way it did the smartphone market? Well, it has the numbers, the tech, and apparently the Nürburgring lap times. What it doesn’t quite have yet is the production capacity to keep up. And unlike phones, you can’t just queue online at midnight and have DHL drop off 1.8 tonnes of aluminium and lithium on your doorstep the next day.

Still, when the SU7 finally does roll up in Europe, Porsche and Tesla might find themselves with an entirely new rival – one that once upon a time just made cheap chargers and earbuds. And that, frankly, is properly brilliant.

Source: Xiaomi

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Xiaomi YU7 Max Brakes Catch Fire on Track – Performance or Problem?

After the SU7’s strong Nürburgring performance and the overwhelming demand for the new YU7 SUV—with 289,000 pre-orders—the tech giant seemed to be on a fast track to EV dominance. But over the weekend, a viral video raised serious questions about the limits of Xiaomi’s performance engineering.

The footage, captured at a race track and quickly circulating across social media, shows the high-performance YU7 Max SUV with brakes engulfed in flames while stationary in the pit lane. With 682 horsepower (691 kW) and 866 Nm of torque, the YU7 Max is no lightweight. But with that kind of output, braking systems must match the performance—and in this instance, they may have met their limits.

In the video, a technician is seen standing just inches from the glowing calipers while measuring temperatures. The reading: a staggering 619°C. Flames visibly lick the wheel wells, prompting immediate concern from enthusiasts and experts alike.

Xiaomi was quick to respond, attributing the dramatic display to “organic materials in the brake linings.” According to the company, temperatures above 600°C are “completely normal” under extreme conditions and do not affect brake functionality. They also pointed fingers at improper brake usage by the test driver.

The YU7 Max is fitted with a regenerative braking system tied to its “Master Mode”, a setting that enables deceleration of up to 0.2 G using energy recovery alone. When used correctly, this mode minimizes reliance on conventional brakes. However, Xiaomi claims that in this particular case, the driver failed to engage regenerative braking effectively, putting full stress on the traditional system—especially significant given the vehicle’s 2 to 3-ton mass.

Yet, this isn’t the first time Xiaomi has faced questions about its braking systems. Late last year, two SU7 sedans were involved in serious accidents after alleged total brake failure, reportedly due to the use of components not designed for high-stress, high-speed driving environments like race tracks.

So, is this a case of driver error, or an early warning of deeper engineering concerns?

With the EV market growing increasingly competitive, Xiaomi’s ability to balance performance, safety, and reliability will be critical. The company has captured the public’s imagination with sleek designs and impressive specs—but real-world durability and trustworthiness remain the ultimate test.

For now, Xiaomi insists the YU7 Max is performing as expected. But for performance enthusiasts and everyday buyers alike, brakes on fire—even in testing—are hard to ignore.

Source: 快看新聞 via YouTube