Unknown Chinese brand should scare all: Maker of 2026 Zeekr 7X, Tesla Model Y and BYD Sealion 7 rivalling Xiaomi YU7 electric SUV could be bigger than BYD

BYD, Chery and GWM might seem like the new-car boogeymen to legacy carmakers, but a quiet giant is muscling up in China.

Xiaomi, which is best known for making smartphones, has branched out into electric cars and put the car world on notice. It has a seriously big hit on its hands with the YU7 mid-size SUV.

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It reportedly sold almost 38,000 units in January, which was more than double the Tesla Model Y.

Xiaomi also smashed big name Chinese brands such as BYD and Geely to take the top spot.

This could all be the tip of the iceberg as the brand received more than 400,000 orders just a month after it launched in 2025.

The Chinese brand isn’t just content with dominating its home market, but has big plans for global domination.

Europe appears to be first up, with Bloomberg reporting it would launch in the continent by 2027.

Xiaomi is winning fans around the world, including Ford’s boss Jim Farley.

The Blue Oval’s head honcho has gone on the record about how much he loves the Xiaomi SU7 - the sedan version of the YU7.

Last year he told the Everything Electric Show: “I don’t like talking about the competition so much, but I drive a Xiaomi. We flew one from Shanghai to Chicago and I’ve been driving it for six months now, and I don’t want to give it up.”

Ferrari has been seen benchmarking the high-performance SU7 at its Maranello headquarters ahead of the Prancing Horse’ coming first electric car. A fact no one would have believed a few short years ago.

It is easy to see on paper why the YU7 is such a smash hit.

In China the YU7 range kicks off with the Standard grade, featuring a single motor powering the rear wheels and producing 235W and 528Nm.

The mid-tier Pro brings all-wheel drive and two motors with a combined output of 365kW and 690Nm.

Both use a 96.3kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery.   

Range-topping Max is all-wheel drive and its dual motors up the ante with 508kW and 866Nm. That's enough grunt to throw this SUV from 0 to 100km/h in 3.2 seconds. At its core is a 101kWh nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) lithium-ion battery.