Xiaomi has just entered a league where very few expected to see it just a few years ago. The Chinese company, known globally for its phones and electronic devices, now also wants to dominate the field of high-performance cars. And he's doing it quite loudly.

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The new Xiaomi YU7 GT appeared for the first time without camouflage on the Nürburgring Nordschleife and did not go unnoticed. The electric SUV managed to become the fastest production sports utility vehicle in the history of the German circuit, surpassing European heavyweights that had been dominating that terrain for years.

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The feat not only serves as a coup before its global launch. It also confirms that Chinese brands are no longer looking at manufacturers like Porsche or Audi from afar, but have directly begun to dispute their most important records.

A record time on the most demanding circuit

The Xiaomi YU7 GT completed a lap of the Nürburgring with a time of 7:34.931, enough to set a new benchmark among production SUVs.

The previous mark was held by the Audi RS Q8 Performance, which had stopped the stopwatch at 7:36.698. Before that, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT was the benchmark with 7:38.925.

The person in charge of driving the Chinese SUV during the record lap was Ren Zhoucan, Xiaomi's head of testing, who made the most of the vehicle's potential on one of the most difficult routes on the planet.

The Nürburgring Nordschleife, known worldwide as “The Green Hell”, is more than 12 miles long and combines fast corners, elevation changes and extremely technical sectors. Therefore, any record achieved there usually automatically becomes a letter of introduction for any manufacturer.

An electric SUV with almost 1,000 horses

The YU7 GT will be officially presented at the end of May as the most extreme variant of Xiaomi's electric SUV. And its figures explain quite well why it achieved such performance.

The model uses a dual-motor system with all-wheel drive capable of generating 990 horsepower. According to the brand, it can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in less than two seconds and reach a top speed of 186 mph.

Its autonomy is also striking, reaching up to 438 miles thanks to a 101.7 kWh NMC battery. Although the SUV weighs 5,420 pounds, Xiaomi claims that chassis tuning and weight distribution were key to maintaining agile behavior on the track.

Technology and aerodynamics designed for running

Beyond power, Xiaomi equipped the YU7 GT with a fairly aggressive aerodynamic package. The SUV incorporates a sporty front splitter, rear diffuser, carbon ceramic brakes, large calipers and 21-inch wheels with tires of different sizes front and rear.

The special configuration called “Jialong Chassis Master” also played an important role in the record achieved in Germany.

Added to this is the HAD advanced driving assistance system developed by Xiaomi itself. The suite includes 128-line Hesai LiDAR sensors, 4D radar, 11 cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors and the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Thor-U processor with 700 TOPS of processing capacity.

Xiaomi no longer wants to be just a technology brand

The media coup achieved at the Nürburgring makes something quite clear. Xiaomi is not entering the automotive business to take a back seat.

First it surprised with the SU7 Ultra and now it repeats the formula with an SUV that has already managed to defeat historical benchmarks of European high performance. The YU7 GT has not even officially arrived at dealerships yet and has already become one of the most talked about electric models of the year.