Xiaomi YU7 Outsells Tesla Model Y in China as EV Sales Surge

Xiaomi still hasn’t taken its EVs beyond China, and people abroad are getting impatient, but back home the brand just keeps gaining speed.

October was another big month. Xiaomi sold 48,654 cars across the country, and the YU7 SUV completely stole the show with 33,662 units. It’s now comfortably ahead of the SU7 sedan. For a quick comparison, Tesla moved about 61,500 Model Ys worldwide in the same month — but more than half went overseas. In China alone, Tesla sold roughly 26,100 Model Ys, which means Xiaomi actually beat them on home soil.

What makes this more impressive is how new the YU7 is. Customer deliveries only started in July, yet Xiaomi has already shipped around 70,000 units. That’s a huge start for a brand that only recently jumped into the car business, and it shows the SUV clearly clicked with buyers.

With that momentum behind them, Xiaomi used the Guangzhou Auto Show to roll out something a little more fun: a new Customization Service. To show what it can do, they painted a YU7 Max in a bold Crystal Purple — a color you definitely won’t confuse with anything else on the road.

The idea behind the program is basically Xiaomi’s answer to Porsche’s Paint to Sample. Over the next few years, they plan to offer more than 100 new colors, which is the opposite of Tesla’s minimalist “pick one of these three colors and move on” approach. Prices for the special finishes will start at 11,000 yuan (around $1,500).

Buyers will also get more options for wheels and Brembo brake calipers, and if someone really wants to flex, Xiaomi will even sell 24-karat gold badges or gold-carbon-fiber accents. Subtle? Not really. But someone out there will love it.

Under the skin, the YU7 lineup stays the same. The single-motor version uses a rear motor with 315 hp and 528 Nm, fed by a 96.3 kWh battery. Above that are the dual-motor versions with 489 hp and 681 hp. Xiaomi is working on an even more powerful variant, but it’s still too early to know whether it’ll hit the same crazy numbers as the SU7 Ultra.

For now, the biggest question isn’t about colors or horsepower. It’s simply: when will Xiaomi finally start selling these EVs outside China? A lot of people are waiting — and the longer Xiaomi delays, the bigger the curiosity gets.