Move over, Rimac. There’s a new all-electric speed leader at the famed Nürburgring track. Veteran smartphone manufacturer and young automotive arm Xiaomi recently achieved the fastest time for a production EV at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
If you’re trying to prove to the world that you have the fastest EV, the Nürburgring is likely the proving ground. The world-renowned German track has seen an immeasurable number of hot laps in its nearly 100 years of existence.
As BEVs have emerged as not only the future of passenger mobility, but as a significantly faster and more powerful option to combustion vehicles, Nürburgring has seen some of the fastest laps of the past decade.
EVs like the Tesla Model S Plaid and Porsche Taycan Turbo GT have garnered blistering times at the Nürburgring Nordschleife (North Loop). Until today, the previous record for a production model BEV was 7:05.298, achieved by Martin Kodrić behind the wheel of a Rimac Nevera in 2023.
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Now, a new champion has emerged as the world’s fastest production EV at Nürburgring, and you may recognize its logo on Curve 12 of the track’s Grand Prix Circuit. The SU7 Ultra – the only model on the market from young EV automaker Xiaomi- has achieved the fastest time of 7:04.957 at the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
Source: Xiaomi Automobile/Weibo
Xiaomi delivers the fastest EV model at Nürburgring
Today’s record-setting news is part of a young but blossoming relationship between the automotive arm of Xiaomi Inc. and the renowned German race track.
In July 2024, Xiaomi founder, chairman, and CEO Lei Jun confirmed a production version of the SU7 Ultra was in the works and would arrive in the first half of 2025. At the time, Xiaomi shared plans to take a prototype version of the tri-motor BEV to Nürburgring that October, chasing records of some of the fastest models on the planet.
That version snagged its own record for a four-door vehicle, completing its lap around the Nordschleife in 6:46.874. After Xiaomi’s record-breaking drive on the Nordschleife last fall, the Chinese automaker was invited to join Nürburgring’s “Industriepool” – a members-only program where automakers and suppliers test and develop new vehicles and their components at Nürburgring sixteen weeks each year.
That invite was also part of a “far-reaching partnership” announced in May that included advertising around the site, including “Xiaomi Curve” on the Grand Prix Circuit. As an Industriepool member, the Xiaomi team recently took a production version of the SU7 Ultra around the Nürburgring Nordschleife before garnering a fresh title as the fastest. Per the company’s Weibo post:
7 minutes 04 seconds 957, the fastest mass-produced electric car in the history of the Nürburgring Nordschleife! The mass-produced version of the #SU7Ultra first lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife, breaking the lap record of mass-produced electric cars on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.
With its official track time of 7:04.957, Xiaomi has usurped Rimac as the fastest lap for production BEV at Nürburgring Nordschleife. Some may argue that the Nevera is not a mass-produced BEV, so in that case, the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra also beat out the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT’s 2024 lap time of 7:07.55.
Either way, Xiaomi is the new speed leader for production EVs at Nürburgring, although it may not be for long. When announcing the new record on Weibo, Xiaomi founder Lei Jun said, “I believe this record will be broken again in the near future.”
Will that record be broken by Xiaomi or another BEV manufacturer? Time will tell. For now, you can check out Xiaomi’s unedited lap video here.
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U.S. President Donald Trump walks with North American Flat-Rolled Segment Senior Vice President and Chief Manufacturing Officer Scott Buckiso, Plant manager of Irvin and Fairless Plant Donald German and Mon Valley Works United Steel Corporation Vice President Kurt Barshick, as he visits U.S. Steel Corporation–Irvin Works in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, U.S., May 30, 2025.
Leah Millis | Reuters
President Donald Trump said Thursday that the U.S. will have a “golden share” in U.S. Steel after its deal with Japan’s Nippon Steel closes.
“We have a golden stock. We have a golden share, which I control, or the president controls,” Trump told reporters in the East Room of the White House. “That gives you total control.”
Trump said Americans would have 51% ownership of U.S. Steel without providing details on how the deal is structured.
Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick told CNBC last month that the U.S. will have a golden share that allows it to control a number of U.S. Steel board seats to ensure production levels aren’t cut.
“It’s a national security agreement that will be signed with the U.S. government,” McCormick told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on May 27.
But the White House, U.S. Steel and Nippon have left investors and union members in the dark for weeks now on what shape the deal will take and when it will be finalized.
Trump announced what he called a “planned partnership” between the two companies on May 23. The president’s statement created confusion because U.S. Steel has said since December 2023 that it will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon North America.
Trump had ordered a new review of the deal in April after President Joe Biden blocked the transaction in January. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States submitted a recommendation to Trump on May 21.
The president had 15-days to make a decision on the committee’s recommendation under the normal rules governing the process. But the White House, U.S. Steel and Nippon have not provided details on the status of the deal since the 15-day period ended last week.
The United Steelworkers union sent a letter to U.S. Steel last Friday demanding details about the deal.
“We have seen nothing credible regarding the nature of this so-called partnership, including whether it meaningfully differs from Nippon’s initial proposal to acquire U.S Steel and make it a wholly owned subsidiary,” the union said in a statement Friday addressed to its members.
Trump said U.S. Steel will be “controlled by the USA” during a rally at one of the company’s plants in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania on May 30. Shortly after the rally, however, the president said the deal had not been finalized yet.
“I have to approve the final deal with Nippon, and we haven’t seen that final deal yet,” Trump said.
The ID.2 is finally out for testing. Volkswagen’s new entry-level EV was spotted out in public, giving us our closest look at the production model so far.
Volkswagen’s entry-level ID.2 EV hits the road for testing
Although we caught a glimpse of the ID.2 last summer, new photos are emerging, offering a clearer view of what the production model will look like.
Volkswagen’s entry-level EV was spotted near the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany, revealing a few new design features we can expect to see.
The prototype is camouflaged in Polo body panels, but you can still see the ID.2 will remain close to the concept shown in 2023. A few slight differences are noticeable, such as the front and rear headlights, but it retains a similar overall appearance.
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At the LA Auto Show last year, VW’s tech development boss, Kai Grünitz, told Autocar that the brand’s “ID” lineup is due for a drastic overhaul. Grünitz explained that “huge improvements” are coming soon, starting with the ID.2 in 2026.
Volkswagen ID.2all entry-level EV (Source: Volkswagen)
The ID.2, which could arrive as the ID.Polo will start at under 25,000 euros ($29,000) in Europe next year, but prices could drop to as low as £20,000 when it arrives in the UK.
It will be based on the MEB+ platform, which will underpin Volkswagen’s upcoming lineup of entry-level EVs. The ID.2 will be offered with either a 38 kWh or 56 kWh battery pack, providing a range of up to 280 miles (450 km). VW said it will be able to recharge from 10% to 80% in just 20 minutes, with a peak charging capacity of up to 125 kW.
You can see from the new photos (via Autocar) that Volkswagen is looking to its past for influence with design elements borrowed from its classics, such as the Golf, Polo, and Beetle.
The interior retains most of the concept’s style with 12.9″ infotainment and 10.9″ driver display screens, but plenty of physical buttons are expected. Volkswagen added a fun new feature with different drive modes, which transforms the driver cluster to resemble that of an old-school Golf or Beetle.
Following the ID.2, Volkswagen plans to launch the SUV version and the even smaller, more affordable ID.1, expected to arrive in 2027.
Last month, SEAT S.A., which will lead VW’s new Electric Urban Car Family (entry-level EVs), announced it had produced the first body parts on the new PXL press that will be used for the new CUPRA Raval in 2026, followed by the production version of the Volkswagen ID.2. The first pre-series battery systems are also now rolling off the assembly line at the Group’s Martorell plant in Spain.
CEO of Chime, Chris Britt, center right, rings the opening bell during the company’s initial public offering at the Nasdaq MarketSite on June 12, 2025 in New York City.
Andres Kudacki | Getty Images
Chime opened at $43 in its Nasdaq debut on Thursday after selling shares at $27 each in an IPO that valued the online banking company at $11.6 billion.
Late Wednesday, Chime raised about $700 million in its offering, and existing investors sold an additional $165 million worth of shares. The stock is trading under the ticker symbol CHYM.
Chime’s IPO, from a valuation perspective, represents a big step down from where venture investors like Sequoia Capital valued the company in its last fundraising round in 2021, when private tech markets were raging. The valuation at the time was $25 billion.
Still, Chime’s offering is the latest sign that the fintech IPO market is opening up after a multi-year freeze brought on by rising interest rates and valuation resets. Recent debuts from eToro and crypto company Circle have rekindled optimism in the sector, with both stocks seeing strong initial pops.
Chime reported $518.7 million in revenue for the most recent quarter, a 32% increase from a year earlier. Net income narrowed slightly to $12.9 million, down from $15.9 million in the same period last year.
CEO Chris Britt said Chime has built a loyal user base by serving Americans earning $100,000 a year or less, a group often overlooked by traditional banks.
“Two-thirds of our customer base use us as their direct deposit account and primary account relationship,” Britt told CNBC’s David Faber.“We help our members avoid fees, get access to short-term liquidity, build their credit and build their savings — and it’s that combination of services that really resonates and matters most to the everyday consumer.”
Britt said the company reached $25 million in adjusted profitability in the first quarter and has improved its adjusted profit margin by 40 points over the past two years.
The company’s top institutional shareholders are DST Global and Crosslink Capital. Iconiq was one of the firms that invested six years ago, when Chime raised money at a $1.5 billion valuation.
“We first invested in Chime in 2019 and continued to invest through subsequent rounds because of their singular, unwavering focus on serving everyday Americans — and the trust they’ve built with that core customer base,” Yoonkee Sull, general partner at Iconiq, said in an interview.
The average Chime customer completes more than 55 transactions per month using the Chime card and interacts with the app four to five times a day. Active member growth rose 23% in the first quarter from a year earlier, Britt said, with 8.6 million monthly active users and an increasing number turning to Chime to serve as their primary banking relationship.
Customer acquisition doesn’t come cheap. Chime disclosed in its prospectus that it spent $1.4 billion on marketing between 2022 and 2024. Britt said the retention rate is above 90% once users set up direct deposit.
“Sometimes for people, it takes a change in life — a change in their career, a job change — to be the point in time when they actually make the switch and use us as a primary bank account,” he said.
The company’s core revenue comes from interchange fees, the charges merchants pay when consumers swipe Chime-issued debit or credit cards. Britt said 72% of Chime’s revenue is payments-driven, versus traditional banks that rely heavily on fees from overdrafts and minimum balances.
“It’s pretty simplistic,” said Dan Dolev, an analyst at Mizuho. “I’m actually surprised by how unsophisticated that business model is.”
Chime’s performance in the public markets may set the tone for what comes next. Several other fintech players, including Klarna, Gemini, and Bullish, have already filed for IPOs publicly or confidentially.
“If it goes well — and you’ll know that in the next two to three months — I think you’ll see much more receptivity” from other companies in the pipeline, said David Golden, partner at Revolution Ventures and former head of tech investment banking at JPMorgan Chase.
“If it doesn’t go well,” Golden added, “I think they’ll continue just to sit on their hands and wait it out.”
Chime is a five-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company, having made the annual list from 2020-2024.