BYD likely to launch new premium auto brand in Q3 2022

Shanghai (Gasgoo)-BYD plans to launch a new premium auto brand in the third quarter of 2022 with the brand identity to be unveiled at the same time, Li Yunfei, BYD's general manager of branding and public relations, recently said via his twitter-like Weibo account.

Photo credit: BYD

The first production model under the yet-to-be-unveiled high-end brand will be a rugged-looking off-road vehicle, which is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of this year and hit the market in the first half of 2023.

Mr. Li said BYD's most cutting-edge automotive technologies will be used on the new upscale brand's vehicles, whose prices are likely to range from 800,000-1,500,000 yuan ($119,690-224,420).

He also revealed the premium brand will possess a sales & service network and an operation team separate from BYD's other auto units.

This premium brand will be part of BYD's passenger vehicle business, which also encompasses the Dynasty series, the Ocean series, as well as DENZA. Of them, DENZA is co-developed with Mercedes-Benz, and the other units are all wholly-owned by BYD.

On May 16, DENZA kicked off presale of its all-new premium MPV model, the D9. It comes with 6 trim levels including both PHEV (namely, DM-i) and BEV versions, featuring a presale price range of 335,000-460,000 yuan ($50,120-68,820). Besides, a founder's edition is offered at the same time, priced at 660,000 yuan ($98,745) in presale with a limited supply of 99 units.

In addition, the presale of the BYD Seal (the second model of BYD's Ocean series) and the 2022 BYD Tang EV commenced on May 20 and May 22 respectively.