By ZHAO Boyuan, ZHOU Shuqi
Yangwang, the luxury electric vehicle marque by BYD, opened its first showroom at the Bund in Shanghai, the city’s most opulent commercial area, directly across the Huangpu River from the Oriental Pearl Tower.
The Yangwang showroom has also become an instant tourism spot. When Jiemian News visited on Sunday, a saleswoman said apart from tourists wandering in, each of the sales staff handles at least 20 serious clients a day.
BYD unveiled the Yangwang in November last year. And so far has two models, U8 and U9. U8 is an electric SUV priced from 1.1 million yuan (US$150,000).
At the Shanghai Auto Show in April, BYD released a video clip of U8 doing tank turns and floating on water. The first U8 rolled off the assembly line on September 20.
On the other hand, the U9 is an electric supercar that can “jump” a few inches off the ground and drive on only three wheels, thanks to its clever Disus suspension system.
The saleswoman at the showroom said by October 6, Yangwang had received more than 4,000 orders. “I nailed two deals just now,” she said.
Even though the National Day holiday had ended, there was still a steady stream of visitors to the showroom. In about 20 minutes, five groups of customers came for test drives, and in the morning, there were approximately 10 groups of registered visitors. The sales force of five were almost all constantly engaged with customers.
Visitors are predominantly middle-aged men, expressing interest in features like tank turns and water fording. One potential buyer of the Yangwang U8 said that the vehicle met his expectations in terms of intelligence and tech, and the price of 1.1 million yuan falls within his range.
The Yangwang U8 is targeting the hardcore off-road market, primarily competing with models Range Rover and the Mercedes-Benz G-Class. These two models have starting prices of 1.4 million yuan.
According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), in the first seven months of this year, the sales of the Range Rover and Mercedes-Benz G-Class were 14,000 and 4,932 units respectively, representing a year-on-year growth of 37 percent and 67 percent.
There are no major players in this specific market segment offering EV models, which the Yangwang U8 aims to address. Considering the U8's weight has exceeded 3.5 tons, in addition to the purchase tax, the final on-road price will be above 1.2 million yuan.
