BYD plans on releasing more models, at more price points to capture the ever-fragmented number of EV buyers both inside and outside of China. As originally reported by CarNewsChina, photos of the Yuan UP leaked in documents from the country's Ministry of Information Technology. That agency is the last stop in the homologation process for cars to be sold in China. It’s not ideal for the automakers, but it’s great for the car folks—it allows us to see the final designs and specifications of some vehicles before they’re even on sale.
The BYD Yuan UP is a small EV, about 4.3m long, or about 169 inches. That’s, give or take, about the same size as a Chevrolet Trax. Power comes from a single motor, producing either 93 or 174 horsepower. It’s all standard Chinese market EV stuff. More importantly, this Yuan UP looks to share at least its base model motor with the smash-hit BYD Dolphin. Considering its somewhat budget appearance, the Yuan UP looks to be the SUV-styled counterpart to the fast-selling Dolphin as well as the BYD Seagull. Sure, it’s not exactly a challenge to the more upscale Model Y and Model X, but that’s not the point here.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see
that SUV-shaped things are absolutely taking off in every part of the world,
especially on the compact side of things. Also, BYD’s Dolphin and Seagull have
been wildly successful; BYD introduced the Seagull in March of this year, and
it has already produced more than 200,000 this year. Likewise, BYD has
manufactured more than 500,000 Dolphins – both of those cars sell like
gangbusters, despite being distinctly car-shaped EVs.
It looks like the BYD Yuan UP could start
at a price of around US$ 14,000, that’s ahead of the roughly US$ 11,000 BYD Seagull,
but below the US$ 16,000 price of the Dolphin. Given how much everyone loves SUVs,
the Yuan UP is primed to take China’s EV market, and possibly the rest of the
world, by storm. If the Yuan UP sells in the same way the Seagull and Dolphin
do, then Tesla’s title as the best-selling EV maker could be as good as gone.
