Shanghai Auto Show 2023
The Chinese car group BYD presents a new premium sub-brand with Yangwang. One of the first two models is the power SUV U8, which we are now seeing from the inside for the first time.
BYD has long since established itself as one of the world's largest car and commercial vehicle manufacturers as well as battery manufacturers for electric cars. With models like the Atto 3, the Han or the Tang EV , the Chinese have so far almost exclusively been in the bread-and-butter segments. But that is about to change: With the new Yangwang sub-brand, which is currently making its official debut at the Shanghai Auto Show, the BYD Group wants to venture into significantly more luxurious and powerful areas.
One of the first two Yangwang models is the U8. This is a robustly styled SUV that boasts many angular lines. In the center of the front is an implied radiator grille, which runs upwards and downwards on the sides and houses various lighting units there. Underride protection elements, like plastic planks on the wheel arches, are intended to symbolize off-road competence. The color-contrasting roof section with a wide C-pillar and clad D-pillar is reminiscent of the current Land Rover Defender. A spare wheel attached to the outside of the tailgate is, of course, de rigueur for an off-roader.
Four-motor drive with over 1,100 hp
The new E4 platform of the Yangwang U8 serves as the technical substructure of the 5.32 meter long, 2.05 wide and 1.93 meter high Yangwang U8 (wheelbase: 3.05 meters). BYD Group, which will use all future models of the sub-brand. A four-motor electric drive is integrated into it: Each wheel has its own electric motor, which ensures all-wheel drive and "sensitive" torque vectoring.
Yangwang promises a system output of over 1,100 hp and a total of up to 1,280 Newton meters. The U8 accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in three seconds. He should even be able to swim thanks to his drive layout. It helps that the platform and body should be completely sealed against the ingress of water.
Luxurious interior
The manufacturer promises that the U8 will be capable of a 360-degree tank turn even on highly adhesive asphalt and at 100 km/h due to the negative torque when recuperating even then within 40 meters of the Standstill comes when the brake system fails. Three sensor and lidar units on the front edge of the roof speak for an extensively equipped assistance package. Yangwang specifies the turning circle as less than twelve meters.
The first pictures of the interior suggest that things are very luxurious here. Heavy brown leather is featured here, as is a wide center console with a vertically aligned XL screen at the front end. The instruments are also displayed on a monitor.This is reflected in the "entertainment screen" on the passenger side. Since the cockpit is dominated by the monitors, the air vents move to the dashboard.
From August for the equivalent of 132,300 euros
Erlkönig pictures that have appeared in China suggest that the Yangwang U8 will also be available as a seven-seater. The rear passengers can be entertained by two additional 12.8-inch displays and, together with the people in the other row(s), by the sound from up to 22 loudspeakers. A configurable starry skylight hovers over the heads of the occupants.
Yangwang wants to set up a sales network independent of the parent company BYD, through which the U8 will be offered from August. The electric luxury SUV is rumored to cost around one million yuan (currently the equivalent of around 132,300 euros). So far, nothing is known about any export to Europe.
Conclusion
In China, new electric car brands are springing up like mushrooms. The youngest of them is Yangwang, which the giant BYD wants to position as its high-end offshoot. The Chinese want to roll up the market for electric luxury SUVs with the U8, which uses a new platform from the group and has a four-motor and 1,100 hp drive train.
