A Xiaomi SU7 prototype has been photographed at the Nürburgring with its camouflage removed, exposing a GT3-style rear wing, a new front bumper and louvered front fenders. Carscoops published the photos on Nov. 9 and suggested the Chinese phone maker may be preparing a new electric lap record. Xiaomi has not said anything about a record attempt.
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The target would be Porsche’s 6:55.553 on the Nordschleife, set in May by a Taycan Turbo GT with the Manthey Kit. Xiaomi held the electric sedan record before that with an SU7 Ultra, so a rematch would be a return to a lap the company once owned.
The aero parts visible on the uncamouflaged prototype
Chris Chilton of Carscoops wrote that the car is more than a badge and sticker package. In October the outlet spotted a fully camouflaged SU7 Ultra with a large GT3-style wing running laps. The unwrapped car shows the same wing with a swan-neck rear spoiler, plus a new front bumper, a large splitter and louvers in the front fenders above the wheels.
Chilton suggested the louvers relieve pressure in the front wheel arches, as on the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and expects the wing to include some form of drag-reduction system. The front fenders are cut inward ahead of the doors and the rear fenders behind the rear wheels, exposing wide track tires on double five-spoke wheels. Aero parts of that scale alone, he wrote, would carve off a few seconds.
The same spy-shot series first appeared in July, when the outlet caught a wilder SU7 at the Nürburgring and floated a possible Ultra Extreme badge. The July report said the name was unconfirmed and that Xiaomi had offered no confirmation of the car at all. Carscoops used the Xtreme spelling in its Nov. 9 coverage, but the name belongs to the outlet, not to Xiaomi.
Xiaomi’s 7:04.957 and Porsche’s 6:55.553
Xiaomi’s SU7 Ultra earned its place on the Nordschleife in 2025. The Nürburgring’s own record notice lists 7:04.957 for the SU7 Ultra, driven by Vincent Radermecker, in the Electric Executive Car category on a flying-start lap of 20.8 kilometers. The Nürburgring says category rules come from Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority, and every record follows one rule: one track, one complete lap, one time, judged by uniform standards. Carscoops says the time briefly held the production sedan and EV record, 0.3 seconds ahead of the Rimac Nevera.
Porsche answered within a year. Its May 7 release credits development driver Lars Kern with 6:55.553, a notarized lap in the same category and more than nine seconds quicker than the previous record. Porsche says the Manthey Kit raises Attack Mode output to 730 kW, or 978 horsepower, and downforce at 124 mph to 683 pounds from 209. The release also lists 600 kW (804 horsepower) of standard output, up from 580 kW, and a 192 mph top speed. Technical project manager Christian Müller called it the first kit of its kind for an electric Porsche, and Kern said the kit turns the Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach Package into the ultimate track tool.
The gap is large: Xiaomi would need to find more than nine seconds over its own 2025 lap to take the mark back, since 7:04.957 minus 6:55.553 is about 9.4 seconds. Carscoops points out that power may be the other lever: the SU7 Ultra is quoted at 1,548 PS, or 1,526 horsepower, for brief periods, and a 2024 quad-motor prototype was shown with more than 2,027 horsepower. Neither figure has been tied to the new test car.
What Xiaomi has and has not confirmed
Nothing in the photos proves a record run is coming. Carscoops says it does not yet know how fast the winged car goes around the Nordschleife, and its record talk rests on the aero kit and Xiaomi’s history. The outlet also wonders whether the company has a bigger trick up its sleeve than aerodynamics, but it frames that as a question and not a confirmed plan. Motor Authority raised the same possibility in 2024 about an earlier SU7 prototype with a fixed wing, and Xiaomi did post its record lap the following year, so such suspicions have panned out before.
Manufacturer testing at the Nürburgring is routine, and a car running without its wrap says only that secrecy is no longer the priority. Carscoops also frames the moment against a wider race for electric speed marks, noting that BYD’s Yangwang U9 Xtreme reached 313 mph (503 km/h) on a public highway in Abu Dhabi the previous week, which is a different kind of record but the same appetite for attention.
The open questions are which version Xiaomi plans to show, what it will be called, and whether an official timed lap, certified in the way Porsche’s was, will be announced. Porsche has the lap certified and on file, while Xiaomi so far has only a prototype and a stream of photographs.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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