Two years ago, Xiaomi showed up at the Nürburgring with a 1,548-horsepower electric sedan and set a production EV lap record that made the entire German automotive establishment flinch. Then Porsche took it back with the Taycan Turbo GT Manthey kit. Now spy photos from the Green Hell show Xiaomi is coming for round two, and the hardware strapped to its latest SU7 Ultra prototypes suggests the Chinese tech giant isn’t interested in a close fight.
Our photographers caught two heavily revised SU7 Ultra prototypes circulating the Nordschleife with aerodynamic upgrades that go well beyond a factory refresh. The front bumper has been completely reworked, gaining a deep splitter flanked by aggressive aero skirts. New louvers sit above the front wheels to manage turbulent airflow, and large side skirts run the length of the car.
In several frames, the carbon ceramic brake discs are visibly glowing, confirming the kind of sustained high-speed punishment you’d expect from a serious lap record attempt.
The rear is where things get theatrical. Xiaomi has bolted on a twin-plane rear wing carried by swan-neck mounts, a design clearly borrowing from the Porsche 911 GT3 RS playbook. The wing appears to incorporate the hardware for an active drag reduction system, which would allow one element to open flat at speed, cutting drag when maximum downforce isn’t needed.
That’s a feature Porsche uses on its most track-focused cars, and seeing it on a four-door Chinese EV sedan tells you exactly how seriously Xiaomi is taking this rivalry.
Below the wing sits a new diffuser that looks like carbon fiber and mirrors the aggressive underbody treatment Manthey developed for the Taycan Turbo GT. Together, the wing and diffuser should generate substantially more rear downforce than the current SU7 Ultra produces. That changes the car’s balance at triple-digit speeds in a fundamental way.
All that added downforce will demand mechanical changes to exploit it. Stiffer suspension tuning is almost certain, and upgraded tires are likely. Then there’s the question of power — Xiaomi has previously demonstrated a quad-motor powertrain producing 2,054 horsepower but has never put it into a production vehicle.
A track-focused SU7 Ultra refresh would be the logical place to deploy it.
The Taycan Turbo GT with Manthey Performance Kit currently holds the Nürburgring record for production electric sedans. Porsche spent decades building its reputation at that track and invested heavily in the Manthey partnership to keep its crown. Xiaomi is a company that made its name selling smartphones and rice cookers, and it is now forcing Stuttgart to defend its own turf with increasingly extreme engineering.
The original SU7 Ultra Prototype that set Xiaomi’s initial record was a stripped, race-prepped machine far removed from anything a customer could buy. What these spy photos suggest is that the production SU7 Ultra is closing the gap to that prototype. It’s adopting the most aggressive aerodynamic features in a form you can theoretically register and drive on the street.
No timeline has been confirmed for a reveal, and Xiaomi hasn’t commented on the prototypes. But the cars are at the Nürburgring, fitted with timing equipment, running hard enough to cook their brakes orange. You don’t do that for a press release.
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