Walk into almost any electronics shop in Mongkok and you will see a Xiaomi phone on the shelf next to the Samsungs. The company has sold smartphones in Hong Kong for more than a decade. What most drivers in the city have not registered is that the same company now builds one of the fastest production sedans ever measured around the Nurburgring, sold two hundred thousand electric SUVs in the first three minutes of pre-orders in 2025, and is on track to hand over more than half a million cars this year.
And you still cannot walk into a showroom in Hong Kong and buy one.
This is the guide we have been meaning to write since the new-generation SU7 launched in Beijing three weeks ago. Think of it as an early primer on a brand that, by almost any measure, should already be here. We will cover who Xiaomi actually is as a car company, what each model in the lineup does, why Hong Kong is sitting in a frustrating blind spot, and what you can (and cannot) do about it if you want one now.
Who Xiaomi Actually Is As a Car Company
In March 2021, Lei Jun, the founder and chief executive of Xiaomi, stood on stage and announced the company would commit ten billion US dollars over ten years to building electric cars. The industry assumed it was a tech-giant vanity project. Three years later, the first production Xiaomi SU7 rolled out of a purpose-built factory in Beijing’s Yizhuang district, and the joke stopped being funny.
The factory itself tells you how serious this is. Beijing Phase I was designed for 150,000 cars a year. Within months of opening it was running at close to double that on a two-shift schedule. Phase II comes online after Chinese New Year 2026 to handle the new-generation SU7. Phase III in Beijing and a brand-new plant in Wuhan are both scheduled to start production in May 2026, with Wuhan alone targeting 35,000 units a month by October. The publicly stated 2026 delivery target is 550,000 vehicles, up from 410,000 last year. That is Porsche-scale output from a company that did not build cars at all four years ago.
The leadership team is not a group of phone executives pretending to understand cars. Xiaomi hired a former BMW group designer as head of design, a chassis engineer who spent years on M-car development, and pulled talent from Mercedes, Porsche and Ferrari on the powertrain side. Lei Jun himself has been visibly hands-on: he drove the SU7 prototype for thousands of kilometres before launch and announces every new delivery milestone on Weibo personally. Vertical integration runs deep. The motors, the battery pack format, the self-developed HyperOS software that ties the car to every Xiaomi phone, tablet and appliance you own: all of it is engineered in-house.
The ambition is not subtle. In a February 2026 earnings call, Lei Jun described the goal as “Porsche in performance, Tesla in software.” That sort of statement usually ages badly. In Xiaomi’s case, at least one of those two has already been visibly answered.
Quick Info: The Xiaomi EV Lineup At a Glance
| Model | Launched | Price (CNY) | Power | 0-100 | Range (CLTC) | HK Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SU7 (new-gen) | March 2026 | 219,900-303,900 | 320-690 hp | 3.08s (Max) | 720-902 km | Not officially sold |
| SU7 Ultra | Feb 2025 | 529,900+ | 1,548 hp | 1.98s | 630 km | Not officially sold |
| YU7 | June 2025 | 253,500-329,900 | 320-690 hp | 3.23s (Max) | 760-835 km | Not officially sold |
| YU7 GT | Filed, 2026 | TBC | 990 hp | TBC | TBC | Not available |
All prices are mainland China RMB. For Hong Kong, add the First Registration Tax math from our post-April 2026 EV buyer’s guide and assume a further parallel-import markup if you are serious about getting one in without an official dealer.
Xiaomi SU7: The Sedan That Started a Brand
The SU7 is the car that put Xiaomi on the automotive map, and the one you are most likely to have seen on a friend’s Instagram from Shenzhen. It is a low-slung electric fastback, roughly the size of a Tesla Model S, with a silhouette that borrows unapologetically from the Porsche Taycan. Xiaomi did not pretend otherwise at launch. They leaned into it.
The new-generation SU7 that went on sale in March 2026 is a significant step up from the original 2024 car. All trims now run on the V6s Plus motor platform. The entry Standard trim produces 320 horsepower from a single rear motor, uses a 73 kWh LFP pack, and claims a CLTC range of 720 km. The Pro sits in the middle with a 96.3 kWh pack and a headline 902 km CLTC range, which is the longest of any Xiaomi product and one of the longest of any EV sold anywhere. The Max trim is the one everyone talks about: dual motors, 690 horsepower combined, 101.7 kWh ternary lithium pack, CLTC range of 835 km, and a quoted 0-100 km/h time of 3.08 seconds.
Two things matter more than the power figures. First, LiDAR is now standard on every trim, paired with 4D millimetre-wave radar, the Nvidia Thor-U compute platform delivering 700 TOPS, and the Xiaomi HAD driver-assistance system. Most legacy European brands still charge six-figure sums for that hardware stack. Xiaomi gives it away on the base car. Second, the body structure has been reworked around what Xiaomi calls the Dragon chassis, using steel rated up to 2,200 megapascals, with double-chamber air suspension and continuous damping control as standard on Pro and Max.
What do owners actually say once the novelty wears off? The recurring notes from new deliveries are consistent. The cabin feels premium but in a distinctively Xiaomi way, more like a flagship phone rendered in a car than a German saloon. The screen software is the best in the class: smooth, responsive, and obviously built by people who make operating systems for a living rather than outsourced to a Tier 1 supplier. Range in real-world Chinese highway driving lands somewhere between 75 and 85 percent of the CLTC figure, which is normal for the standard and what you should expect in Hong Kong city use as well. The driver-assist system is more cautious than aggressive, which is a compliment where ADAS is concerned.
Delivery waits are still long. Buyers ordering the new Standard trim in China are quoted 29 to 32 weeks. The Max is tighter, at six weeks in some cities. If and when the car reaches Hong Kong, assume we will be at the back of the global queue.
Xiaomi SU7 Ultra: The Nurburgring Statement
If the regular SU7 is Xiaomi showing it can build a good car, the SU7 Ultra is Xiaomi showing it can build a world-class one. Launched in February 2025 at a starting price of 529,900 yuan, it uses three motors (one front, two rear), a carbon-ceramic brake system, a carbon-fibre aero package, and a bespoke battery capable of sustained full-power discharge. The headline figures are absurd: 1,548 horsepower, 0-100 km/h in 1.98 seconds without the usual one-foot rollout fudge, and a top speed of 350 km/h.
Numbers on a spec sheet from a new brand always deserve scepticism. Xiaomi went and did something about that. In April 2025, a prototype SU7 Ultra set a lap time of 6:22.091 around the Nurburgring Nordschleife, which at the time of writing is the third-fastest time ever set by a production or near-production car around the full 20.8 km lap. Two months later, the production-spec SU7 Ultra returned to the Nordschleife and posted a lap of 7:04.957, which is officially the fastest time ever recorded by a mass-produced electric car. Whatever you think of Chinese brands, a Nurburgring record from a company that did not build cars five years ago is not something the established performance-car world can wave away.
To commemorate the effort, Xiaomi released the SU7 Ultra Nurburgring Limited Edition at 814,900 yuan (roughly 113,500 US dollars), capped at 100 cars globally. It is the closest thing the brand has to a collector’s piece, and it is already essentially sold out.
In Hong Kong terms, this is not a car anyone is realistically buying as a daily driver. It is relevant for a different reason. The Ultra is the halo that pulls interest down to the regular SU7 and YU7, in the same way the Porsche 911 GT3 pulls interest down to the Macan. It changes how you think about the rest of the lineup. When you sit in a base SU7 Standard, you are sitting in a car built by the same people, on the same platform, in the same factory, as the fastest mass-produced EV ever timed at the Ring. That is a powerful story, and it is the story that has put Xiaomi in rooms where BMW and Mercedes have been the default answer for thirty years.
Xiaomi YU7: The SUV That Broke Pre-Order Records
The YU7 is the one that matters commercially. It launched on 26 June 2025 as a five-metre, five-seat mid-large electric SUV sharing the Modena platform with the SU7. In the first three minutes of pre-orders, Xiaomi took more than 200,000 deposits. In the first 60 minutes, that figure passed 289,000. To put that in context, it is more than the YU7’s annual production capacity, and the company has had to effectively close order books for delivery slots stretching into 2027.
The lineup is familiar. The Standard version uses a single rear motor with 320 horsepower, runs the 96.3 kWh LFP pack, and claims 835 km CLTC (which, oddly, is longer than the heavier dual-motor Pro). The Pro pairs the same battery with a dual-motor drivetrain, bumps power to 496 horsepower, and drops the CLTC figure to 770 km. The Max uses the 101.7 kWh ternary lithium pack with 690 horsepower and a 760 km claim, and hits 100 km/h in 3.23 seconds. Standard price is 253,500 yuan, Pro is 279,900 yuan, Max is 329,900 yuan.
Three details matter for Hong Kong buyers. First, the YU7 is visibly designed for the Tesla Model Y buyer, not the Porsche Cayenne buyer. It is roomy, practical, software-led, and priced to undercut a Model Y at every trim level. Second, the proportions and the front-end treatment (which has already attracted a fair share of “is that a Ferrari Purosangue from the front?” comments online) suggest Xiaomi is willing to be bolder on design than the more restrained SU7. Third, a YU7 GT variant with 990 horsepower has already been filed with Chinese regulators for a 2026 launch. That will be the car that tries to steal Model Y Performance buyers outright.
For a driver in Hong Kong, the YU7 is the most relevant car in the lineup. It is the right size for the New Territories, the right format for an Ap Lei Chau family, priced (in its home market) below what Tesla charges for the same segment, and software-native in a way most legacy SUVs still are not. It is also the one that most obviously should be here, and is not.
What Is Actually Happening In Hong Kong
Here is the uncomfortable truth. As of April 2026, Xiaomi EVs are not officially sold in Hong Kong. There is no dealer, no showroom, no type approval filing for the local market, no announced launch date, and no official retail partner. The closest Xiaomi comes to a Hong Kong presence on the automotive side is a corporate structure: Xiaomi Auto’s parent company is registered as Xiaomi EV Limited in Hong Kong, which is a tax and financing arrangement, not a retail operation.
Why not? The public answer from Lei Jun and the Xiaomi executive team is that 2027 is the “first year of overseas expansion” for Xiaomi Auto. Until then, every car the Beijing and Wuhan factories can build is being sold domestically, because Chinese demand is so far ahead of supply that there is simply no inventory to route anywhere else. The initial international push, once it begins, is aimed at Europe. A new research and development centre in Munich opened in 2025. Testing on German roads is already underway. Retail teams are being built in the United Kingdom. The executive team in Europe has been recruited largely from BMW. None of that energy is being directed at Hong Kong.
There is a deeper reason Hong Kong gets nothing in round one. Xiaomi’s entire current lineup is left-hand drive only. The factories are tooled for LHD. The homologation work in Germany, the UK and France can lean on existing LHD engineering. Hong Kong, along with the rest of the right-hand-drive markets, has to wait for Xiaomi to commit the engineering spend to an RHD variant. Other Chinese brands (NIO with the Firefly, BYD with almost its entire range) have already made that jump. Xiaomi has not.
The good news is that the commercial logic for eventually launching in Hong Kong is extremely strong. Hong Kong has one of the highest per-capita EV adoption rates in the world, is right next to the Beijing and Wuhan factories logistically, and has already proven willing to buy BYD, Leapmotor, AION and Zeekr in volume. Our working assumption is that Hong Kong will see an official Xiaomi launch at the same time as the broader ASEAN and right-hand-drive push, probably 2027 at the earliest, possibly late 2026 if Xiaomi decides to use Hong Kong as a soft launch the way it did its phone business a decade ago.
The Parallel Import Reality
Some Hong Kong buyers will ask the obvious question: can I just bring one in? The short answer is yes, with difficulty and at a premium. The long answer is that you should understand what you are signing up for.
A parallel-imported SU7 or YU7 has to clear Hong Kong Type Approval, which for a non-homologated model is a case-by-case exercise that adds months and fees. The ADAS sensor suite, especially the LiDAR, has to be declared correctly on import because of strategic-commodities rules around the hardware. First Registration Tax still applies on full sticker value at the progressive bands (40 percent on the first HK$150,000, 75 percent on the next HK$150,000, 100 percent on the next HK$200,000, 115 percent thereafter), which on a car with an imported landed cost in the HK$300,000 range puts you well above HK$500,000 all-in. Warranty is non-existent in any practical sense because Xiaomi has no local service centre, which means the software-over-the-air updates you bought the car for are effectively frozen, and any battery, motor or HAD system fault requires shipping parts from the mainland.
We have seen a handful of left-hand drive Xiaomi EVs on the roads in Shenzhen driven across the border by Hong Kong residents with mainland plates. That is a separate (and complicated) regulatory question, but it is the most common way a Hong Kong resident has actually been able to live with a Xiaomi car in 2026. Waiting for the official launch is still the move we would recommend for anyone who actually wants the car as their primary vehicle.
When Will Xiaomi Officially Arrive?
Our best-read guess, based on public statements and visible corporate preparation, is this. Xiaomi will enter its first overseas markets in calendar 2027, starting with Europe. Right-hand drive engineering work is almost certainly in progress in Beijing but has not been officially announced. Hong Kong and Singapore are the two most likely first RHD markets because they are close to China logistically, have high EV adoption, and are small enough to use as a soft launch for the broader RHD push into the UK, Australia and the ASEAN right-hand drive countries.
The realistic window for an official Xiaomi Hong Kong launch is between late 2026 (if the company decides to soft-launch ahead of the European push) and mid-2027 (if Hong Kong sits in the second wave after Europe). We are closer to the pessimistic end of that window on current information. What would accelerate it: a Xiaomi press announcement about RHD production, a type approval filing with the HK Transport Department, or (most likely) a discreet booth at a future HKTDC auto or tech event. We will flag any of those as soon as they happen.
Our Verdict: Should You Wait?
For most Hong Kong drivers who are thinking about a Xiaomi, the right move in 2026 is to wait. The cars are worth waiting for. The pricing will almost certainly be competitive against anything in the mainstream EV market once FRT and local dealer margin are factored in. The right-hand drive version, when it comes, will have had two more years of software maturity and a global service network behind it. And the second-generation SU7 is already the most complete mid-size electric sedan in its price bracket, full stop.
If you are the kind of buyer who needs a new EV today and will not settle for anything else, the honest answer is to look at the established China brands that have already done the RHD work. The AION ES, the AION UT, the BYD Dolphin and the Leapmotor T03 all solve the same day-to-day problem in Hong Kong, and they are available now with warranties and service networks behind them. If you want something closer to the SU7 or YU7 in ambition, the BYD Sealion 7 and the Zeekr 001 are the closest equivalents you can actually register in Hong Kong today.
But keep an eye on Xiaomi. We will be the first to review the SU7 and YU7 the moment either of them becomes legally drivable in Hong Kong with a local service point behind it. Based on what we have seen from the mainland, it is going to be worth the wait.
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