After the success of its mass-model electric vehicles, the Chinese automaker BYD, which recently overtook Tesla as the top-selling EV brand, is now carving out a space in the luxury auto market, challenging the likes of Ferrari and Lamborghini.
On February 26, BYD started taking orders for the U9, the brand’s first supercar and one of two models in its new EV sub-brand, Yangwang, which was introduced early last year. The supercar, loosely defined as a luxury sports car offering above 500 horsepower, marks a stark departure from the brand’s typical offerings of competitively priced vehicles designed to meet the needs of upper middle-class consumers.
The Yangwang U9 boasts a staggering 1,300 horsepower, making it technically a “hypercar” depending on how much of an auto geek you are. Besides horsepower, it has a sprint time of 0 to 100km/h in just 2.36 seconds and top speeds of 309 km/h.
The U9 is by far BYD’s fastest and most expensive model to date, starting at around 1.68 million RMB (233, 500 USD). This still makes it 30-40% cheaper than comparable models from foreign rivals, such as the Ferrari Roma, priced at 2.76 million RMB (383,365 USD), or the Lamborghini Huracan, which sells at 2.54 million RMB (352,807 USD).
Aside from its market-leading performance specs, the Yangwang U9 boasts all the flashy design features you expect to see in a luxury sports car, including Lamborghini-style vertical doors, LED lighting, and even multiple “dance” moves.
“Yangwang U9 will enable you to taste the excitement when you drive it on racing tracks or on city streets,” BYD shared via China’s microblogging hub, Weibo. “It marks the beginning of a new era when fully electric supercars become a choice [for customers].” For now, the car will only be available in China, but it will have plenty of interest thanks to China’s growing tranche of High-Net-Worth Individuals.
