The “most expensive BYD” model, Yangwang U9, has officially launched.

According to the Weibo account of Yangwang Cars on February 25th, the second model of BYD’s (002594. SZ) high-end brand Yangwang U9, was launched with a price of 1.68 million yuan, which will officially start delivery in mid-2024.

Photo/Yangwang Cars Weibo

The Yangwang U9 is positioned as an all-electric supercar. It can achieve a top speed of 309.19 km/h. Besides, it can accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 2.36 seconds, and drag race time for 400 meter is 9.78 seconds. It is equipped with a blade battery, which can reach a maximum charging power of 500 kW.

Photo/Yangwang Cars Weibo

In terms of endurance, the U9 uses a new generation of CTB battery body integration technology, equipped with an 80 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack, and the CLTC's range is 465 kilometres. 

Yangwang Cars stated that it will continue to co-create with artists from all walks of life in the future, and launch more limited “optional” functions. It will also open the programming permissions of Yunnian-X, movable parts, and sound, light, and electricity functions to co-create a private exclusive “sense of ceremony” with users.

Yangwang Cars is a high-end brand under BYD. In September 2023, the first product of Yangwang Cars, the Yangwang U8 luxury version, was launched with a price of 1.098 million yuan. From November to December 2023, the cumulative sales of Yangwang U8 were 2001 units, of which the sales in December were 1593 units. In January 2024, the sales of Yangwang U8 surged again, reaching 1652 units.

It should be noted that for ultra-luxury car brands, the past year has been a difficult year, and the sales of many brands have fallen by double digits.

Data shows that in 2023, Porsche’s global sales were 320,200 units, a year-on-year increase of 3%. Among them, the total delivery volume in the Chinese market was 79,300 units, a year-on-year decrease of 15%, becoming its only declining market worldwide. Bentley’s delivery volume in China was 3,006 units, and the year-on-year decline was as high as 18%.

In addition, Lamborghini, Maserati, Ferrari, Aston Martin and other ultra-luxury brands have also experienced varying degrees of decline. In the overall market downturn, it remains unclear whether Yangwang Cars's sales momentum will continue.

On February 19, BYD announced the launch of the Qin PLUS Glory Edition and Destroyer 05 Glory Edition models, with the official price starting at 79,800 yuan.

Li Yunfei, General Manager of BYD Group’s Brand and Public Relations Department, stated that thanks to BYD’s scale effect and full industrial chain advantages, the price of BYD’s plug-in hybrids can be lower than that of the same level of gasoline cars. At the same time, Li Yunfei also stated that this move will completely start a big battle with gasoline cars, “Who will buy gasoline cars?”

On February 25, BYD announced that the company recently received a proposal from Wang Chuanfu to increase the company’s share repurchase amount from 200 million yuan to 400 million yuan and use it to reduce registered capital.