China Revealed A New Car That Will Take Over The Entire Car Industry

From the beginning of the year 2020 up to mid-2025, so many strange and interesting things have been happening. Tesla just launched their fully self-driving car that takes passengers almost anywhere in the city. Ferrari released a new model pronounced as “Amalfi,” a 2 by 2 coupe that costs $283,000! And a well-known phone manufacturer from China has launched their second car, the Xiaomi YU7. Upon its release, the internet divided into two parts: one part, which makes up over 60%, is showering praises on the car for its amazingly sleek design, powerful road performance, and high-end technological interior. Meanwhile, the other group, which criticizes the YU7, might have a valid point from a different perspective—that the car's design appears to borrow from the Ferrari Purosangue SUV. Still, many argue that Ferrari’s SUV is nowhere close to the Xiaomi YU7 in terms of driving range, technology updates, and modern design. Yet the Ferrari Purosangue is eleven times more expensive than the YU7.

From a buyer’s perspective, a brand-new Ferrari Purosangue SUV costs $395,000, while the Xiaomi YU7 starts at $35,000 for the base trim (which means the model that includes only the basic features with no optional add-ons) and goes up to $39,000 for the Ultra Long Range trim and $46,000 for the Max Edition. Although the base trim can deliver 835 kilometers of driving range with a 96.3 kWh battery pack, it actually surpasses both top trims, which offer 770 kilometers and 760 kilometers respectively, due to the higher power output in the upper models.

It’s no longer a competition in the automotive industry—it’s now about new automakers setting the bar high, just like other prominent manufacturers such as Tesla. The reason we mentioned Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) in the beginning of this video is because the CEO of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, made a statement that has gone viral across social media: “We still have a lot to learn from the U.S. automaker.” He was referring to Tesla. Lei Jun made this comment after Tesla delivered the new Tesla Model Y to customers—without a driver inside. Just watch the video clip on the screen—it's really amazing how there’s no one behind the wheel, and they all just drove straight to each buyer’s address without getting stuck on the road. (Oh boy, this is the future!)

And it gets even better. Lei Jun went on to recommend the Tesla Model Y and other Chinese EVs to customers who could not wait in line for the YU7 to be delivered quickly. This is why:

200,000 pre-orders in 3 minutes, and more than 240,000 locked-in orders in just 18 hours. This means that over 240,000 Xiaomi YU7 cars were already sold in under one day—and these types of purchases are irreversible. During the launch of the YU7, the Xiaomi CEO extended the order period to 7 days, compared to the typical three-day pre-order window most automakers offer interested buyers to finalize their purchase. But in Xiaomi’s case, it’s quite interesting. The seven days are what Lei Jun, the CEO and founder of Xiaomi, refers to as the “cooling days”—a specific timeframe when potential buyers can visit any Xiaomi dealership to test drive the YU7, confirm more in-depth details about the car, and, if necessary, cancel their purchase. Note: these test-drive cancellations are not counted among the locked-in pre-orders.

Adding icing on the cake: more than 10% of the YU7’s sales came from previous buyers of Xiaomi's first car, the “SU7” and “SU7 Ultra.” These buyers are either replacing their garage inventory with the YU7 or simply adding to their lineup. Most of the YU7’s sales came from three major cities in China—Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou—which also happen to be key markets for the Tesla Model Y. And here’s how Xiaomi pulled off this trick: the average age of pre-order customers is 33; 30% are female; and 52% of YU7 buyers are Apple users. Apple users are individuals who primarily use devices and services created by Apple Inc.—including iPhones, iCloud, the Apple Store, and more. Xiaomi made sure the new YU7 incorporated compatibility with almost every Apple product you can think of.