At times, people purchase cars to experience their full performance anywhere and anytime they please. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for owners of Xiaomi’s SU7 Ultra owners in China after a recent update had pretty much nerfed its 1,548 HP power output to a mere 900HP. As you’d expect, customers weren’t happy with this decision, especially when it involves a CNY 529,900 (~RM310,771) fully electric sports car.
Just to bring you up to speed (no pun intended), tech giant Xiaomi launched the high-performance Ultra variant of its SU7 EV in China earlier this year. As mentioned earlier, it offers a staggering output of 1,548 HP, allowing it to complete the century sprint in 1.98 seconds – or so the company claims. Before its launch, Xiaomi pitted a prototype of the SU7 Ultra at the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife racetrack, where it achieved an impressive lap time of 6 minutes and 46.874 seconds.
Customers initially got to enjoy the Ultra’s performance but, as mentioned before, a recent software update has significantly limited its power output to just 900HP and also introduced a 60-second standby interval to its launch controls. According to reports, Xiaomi explained that these changes was intended for the safety of the car and its driver, while the standby interval is for avoiding unplanned high-power starts at traffic lights. Most egregious of all, SU7 Ultra owners are given the requirement of completing a qualifying lap on approved racetracks through a new “Qualifying mode laptime assessment” system if they wish to unlock the full performance of their EV.
The situation saw heated debates on online forums and social media platforms, where one side of people supported the update while the other wanted to enjoy the SU7’s full performance, especially given its cost. Xiaomi eventually caved in to the latter crowd due to increasing pressure and lifted the performance restriction via another update.
This event also underscores a growing concern in the era of software-defined vehicles: the unchecked power manufacturers hold to alter or revoke product features post-purchase. Despite paying a premium, customers can find themselves stripped of promised benefits through over-the-air updates, often without consent or recourse. This practice undermines the value proposition of high-end purchases and raises questions about what consumers are truly buying – hardware, software, or merely temporary access to both.
