Everybody wants an SUV these days, and boy, are they expensive. Even for a mere facelift, you’d be expected to shell out around $50,000. Well, BYD just flipped the switch to all that.
Enter the Great Tang, a full-size flagship crossover that’s just been released in China. And get this: the car managed to secure a record of more than 150,000 preorders!
That craze first unraveled when it was initially revealed at the Beijing Auto Show on April 24, after which it managed to cross over 100,000 preorders in the two weeks that followed. And then, when the car, also branded as Datang in China, was officially launched last week in China, BYD revealed it had already received over 150,000 orders, making it the car with the biggest preorders in the company’s history.
Powering the SUV is BYD’s latest 1,000V high-voltage architecture, paired to a lithium-iron-phosphate 105.79-kWh battery pack. That battery is good for 497 miles (800 km) of CLTC range.
There’s an even larger 130.15-kWh unit powering the higher-spec trims that offer a staggering 590 miles (950 km) of CLTC range. You get flash-charging that helps juice up the battery from 10% to 70% in five minutes, all the way to 97% in nine minutes. Technically, you’re going from zero to 100 in under 10 minutes.
That’s bloody impressive, if you ask me – all courtesy of BYD’s latest Blade Battery 2.0 and Flash Charging system. That is, at least for now, limited to BYD's constantly expanding network of 1 MW T-shaped chargers, of which the carmaker now has over 6,600 installed in China and is expanding internationally as well.
BYD says the Great Tang packs 29 world-first technologies, but the real story isn't the number itself. It's that several of those innovations – the megawatt charging, the 1,000V architecture, the near-600-mile range, and a 10C battery – would each be headline features on their own. Whether all 29 are truly industry firsts is open to debate, but the technological ambition certainly isn't.
Power comes from a 402-hp (300-kW) electric motor paired to the rear wheels in the entry-level trim. Moving up, you can choose between a 496 hp (370 kW) single-motor option or an even more massive 784 hp 585 kW dual-motor. Of course, going that way does bite into the overall range, which dips to 528 miles (850 km). Top speed is listed at 155 mph (250 km/h).
Its 123.2-inch (3,130-mm) long wheelbase is suspended by BYD’s proprietary DiSus-A intelligent suspension system, which is made up of dual-chamber air springs capable of adjusting across a 100-mm travel threshold. There are also active road-preview sensors incorporated straight into the setup, which preemptively modify damping resistance according to incoming surface topology.
The car comes with China’s first 2+2+3 seven-seat configuration. You get captain-style, zero-gravity seats in the front, with the second row equipped with massaging, heating, and ventilation. These get 146-degree recline capabilities, with 70-degree leg rests. Sheeeeeesh.
The entire dashboard is covered by three sizable screens: one for the driver, one for the infotainment, and one for the passenger. There is a huge 17.3-inch entertainment screen that hangs from the huge acoustic laminated glass canopy with a completely concealed, triple-layer internal shade structure.
BYD’s gone as far as including foldable tray tables and an integrated chiller. Coming to safety, BYD's God's Eye 5.0 ADAS system offers features like remote parking, adaptive cruise control, Navigation on Autopilot (NOA), and a 360-degree vision using sophisticated sensors, cameras, and a roof-mounted LiDAR.
It starts at just 239,900 yuan (about US$35,410) in China, and get this: it won’t just be limited to its home country. BYD is planning to bring the flagship SUV to Europe and “other overseas markets” by the end of 2026 and early 2027. Now that is exciting news.
That’s because it’s clearly a car that could only have emerged from China's current EV arms race. Sporting the sort of features that luxury brands would normally unveil one at a time, all are being thrown into a single three-row SUV. And at that price!
Usually, when a new SUV is released, you expect obnoxious sums of money being quoted. Very seldom do we see pricing like that for cars like these. Stuffed to the brim with features. And with what looks like equally good if not better build quality than its European counterparts.
If BYD delivers on even half of its headline claims in the real world, competitors from Europe, Japan, and America may have some uncomfortable questions to answer.
Source: BYD
