Yangwang's First Sedan Sets UAE Date

The showroom lights in Dubai will fall on a Chinese sedan before Beijing ever sees it.

Yangwang general manager Hu Xiaoqing said this week that the division's new executive model will make its global launch in the United Arab Emirates, not in China. BYD has not announced a date, though the debut is expected this month. Rumored pricing starts in the 2 million yuan range, near $300,000.

The car measures about 5,500 mm, or 216 inches, according to local reports, and Hu released images in September showing the sedan under camouflage. The silhouette matched the proportions of a Maybach S-Class or Rolls-Royce Phantom. Yangwang executive general manager Zheng Yu said the model will carry "unprecedented disruptive technology" but did not detail what that means.

Some equipment can be inferred from what BYD has shown. The sedan appeared at a BYD Flash Charging station, indicating support for megawatt flash charging. It carries rear-hinged coach doors, a first for the company, and is reported to be the first BYD model built on solid-state batteries. Executive vice president Stella Li told Carwow.es last month that the first BYD vehicle with such a battery would arrive in 2027.

Yangwang occupies the top of BYD's brand structure, which also includes Denza, FangChengBao, the Dynasty families and the Ocean families. Earlier Yangwang vehicles used the quad-motor e4 platform rated at 1,300 horsepower and the DiSus-X body control system, which lets a car jump and drive on three wheels.

The price would sit far above the division's current range. The U7 sedan begins at 658,000 yuan, or $98,000. The U8 and U8L plug-in hybrid SUVs and the U9 super-coupe fill out the rest, with the extended U8L starting at 1.45 million yuan, or $217,000, the highest-priced mass-produced vehicle Yangwang sells. BYD's lineup also includes the Seagull, a hatchback priced under $10,000 in China.