Xiaomi has converted the outer lane of Beijing's Third Ring Road into a permanent overnight test track for its SU7 electric sedan, and any customer wishing to place an order must first complete one thousand supervised laps between the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
The company calls the programme «Night Validation». A fleet of two hundred identical SU7s now circles the capital every night, each car carrying a company-appointed «lap auditor» in the passenger seat who marks each completed circuit on a paper card. Drivers who fall asleep at the wheel are woken by a firm tap on the shoulder and a reminder that their card will be stamped «incomplete».
«We found that customers who test-drive for twenty minutes do not truly understand the vehicle», a Xiaomi spokesperson said. «So we extended the test drive. It is now one thousand laps. We believe this is the most thorough evaluation any car buyer has ever undertaken, and we are proud of it.»
The scheme has reorganised daily life along the ring road. Residents of the eastern districts report that the hum of electric motors has replaced birdsong as their morning alarm. A chain of twenty-four-hour noodle stalls has opened at every exit ramp to feed drivers on their mandatory rest breaks, and the city has hired three hundred additional traffic officers to wave the SU7s through intersections at four in the morning.
Xiaomi shares rose sharply on the news, outperforming a broadly weak market. Analysts attributed the gain to what one described as «unprecedented customer commitment», noting that no buyer has yet completed the full thousand laps, and that the waiting list now stretches to the year 2031.