Lei Jun Admits Slip-Up at SU7 Launch: "60+60≠120 Crash" — Thanks Netizens for Correction

On March 21, Lei Jun responded on Weibo to an error he made during the Xiaomi SU7 launch event. While introducing the vehicle's passive safety tests, he stated, "Two cars collide head-on at 60 km/h each, resulting in a relative speed of 120 km/h," and mistakenly added that this was "equivalent to hitting a wall at 120 km/h." He later clarified: "I indeed misspoke—thank you to netizens for pointing this out." According to tests conducted by China Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC), the collision involved a 50% offset, head-on car-to-car crash at 60 km/h per vehicle, yielding a relative speed of 120 km/h and impact energy 1.44 times that of standard test conditions. However, from a physics perspective, in such a head-on collision between two identical vehicles, each car experiences forces equivalent to hitting a solid wall at 60 km/h—not 120 km/h, as the latter scenario would involve four times the energy. Lei Jun’s verbal slip had sparked widespread online discussion, prompting him to quickly issue an apology and correction.