If you’re following the EV market and you’re not paying attention to China, you’re just not paying attention. The country’s automakers have been forging ahead in the race to bring ever-more desirable electric cars to market, and they’ve captured the attention of curious consumers and Big Three CEOs alike. The latest bombshell to drop is the Yangwang U7, a luxury sedan gunning for the best in the business.
Yangwang has been making headlines for some time, and not just because it has a name that rhymes. The company launched the striking U9 supercar in 2023, known for its ability to literally bunny hop on the spot. Then there’s the Yangwang U8 SUV, able to “sail” through deep water for up to half an hour. The company makes a habit of building striking vehicles with unique functionality, and its been using this as a base to build its market base in China.
The Yangwang U7 has a big job to do. On paper, it’s got the specs to compete with the best, and in the metal, it looks every part a contender. But beyond the power and the looks, the real shocker is in the crazy feats this magic robot car can apparently pull off. Investors are calling it “the most advanced car in history.”
Ok I can now tweet about it, the most advanced car in history is about to be unveiled. Live thread below. pic.twitter.com/A5jnarqHrv
— Taylor Ogan (@TaylorOgan) March 27, 2025
From Rumor To Substance
As with so many new EV launches, power is the name of the game. The U7 doesn’t disappoint, boasting a four-motor drivetrain good for 1,306 horsepower and 1240 pound-feet of torque. With the benefit of all-paw grip, the U7 can fling itself from zero to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds, and storm on to a top speed of 167 mph.
The Yangwang U7 is an electric vehicle, but you needn’t worry about range—it’s available as both a pure EV and a plug-in hybrid for those desiring more flexibility. The EV version is equipped with a 135.5 kWh battery from BYD, which offers a 447 mile range on the CLTC test profile, which is usually 35% or so more generous than typical EPA range figures.
Meanwhile, the plug-in hybrid variant pairs a smaller 52.4 kWh battery with a 2.0-liter turbo engine good for 272 horsepower, and even better—it’s a boxer four. It’s our understanding that this is in a series hybrid setup, with the engine used to generate power for the electric motors, which otherwise match the EV version. Pure electric range is 124 miles (200 km), and with a 15.8-gallon (60 liter) fuel tank, total combined range is an impressive 621 miles (1,000 km).
What’s really interesting about the Yangwang U7, though, is the stunts it can pull off thanks to its advanced underpinnings. Based on BYD’s e4 platform, the Yangwang U7 makes the most of its four independent motors—one per wheel. By driving individual wheels forward or backwards as needed, the U7 can shimmy and slide around in ways no conventional automobile could hope to match.
Some of these scenarios are funny pic.twitter.com/HRJ48JdEdD
— Taylor Ogan (@TaylorOgan) March 27, 2025
The U7 able to perform delicate tank turns and even move laterally by inching itself sideways, and as reported by CarNewsChina, it has 20 degrees of rear wheel steering to boot. If you’re regularly parallel parking, or you just want a little more flexibility to get out of a tight space, this kind of thing just oozes practical appeal.
Yangwang was also sure to equip it with BYD’s cutting-edge DiSus-Z suspension technology. The active suspension actuators let the vehicle adapt to conditions in the road ahead using the “God’s Eye” LIDAR sensor to adjust the suspension positioning ahead of any bumps or obstacles. It can also help in the event of a flat tire or blowout, with the system allowing the vehicle to continue driving on three wheels at up to 50 mph (80 km/h). This thing will even lean away from an incoming crash, it’s that good. Beyond the party tricks, it’s also just about offering a great ride, as Yangwang demonstrated with a series of videos exploring the car’s capabilities.
2. Active defense test
DiSus-Z is a fully electric, next-gen suspension system that replaces traditional hydraulic dampers with four highly integrated suspension motors. It can preempt side collisions by milliseconds, rapidly lifting the chassis on the impacted side to protect… pic.twitter.com/Nx9BrHHg5B— Taylor Ogan (@TaylorOgan) March 7, 2025
New moose test record speed. Also, first autonomous moose test? LiDAR rocks! pic.twitter.com/avp7YY98Fx
— Taylor Ogan (@TaylorOgan) March 27, 2025
The launch included plenty of great shots of the Yangwang U7 doing amazing things. The autonomous moose test at almost 60 mph (95.11 km/h) was a particular highlight, with the God’s Eye LIDAR enabling that impressive feat.
Previous videos have shown more radical uses of the independent-wheel-drive technology. A particularly enjoyable example shows two U7s on the highway. One attempts to PIT maneuver the other, but the leading car uses its four drive motors and advanced suspension to counter act the induced slide. It’s crazy stuff—and something few to no other vehicles on the market are capable of doing right now.
YangWang U7 is the perfect getaway car.
It can get bumped at 100km/h & still remain in control.
Just unbelievable safety offered by Disus-Z & E4f pic.twitter.com/FFlCJPFfjn— tphuang (@tphuang) March 12, 2025
BYD Yangwang U7
5.3 meter length
1350 HPPrice 600,000 RMB ($85,000) pic.twitter.com/ctZVVSku8T
— CCL (@CCL2K30) March 27, 2025
They drove this thing up stairs.
More Specs
If you haven’t been following the news, you might not know that Chinese automakers are now leading the world in EV fast charging. To that end, the U7 is capable of fast charging at rates of up to 500 kW by using dual charging plugs. It’ll juice the battery from 30 percent to 80 percent charged in 20 minutes flat. Such powerful chargers aren’t yet the norm, particularly in countries like the US. Regardless, EV drivers will always want faster charging, and the U7 recognizes that fact.
Aesthetically speaking, the U7 follows Yangwang’s existing design language to the letter. It wears swooping curves and boasts the brand’s characteristic headlights that bracket an aggressive front end. The design is about both form and function, with Yangwang achieving an impressive drag coefficient of just 0.195 Cd for the U7. That figure eclipses the Tesla Model S (0.208) and even beats the ultra-slippery Lucid Air (0.197).
The interior is suitably high tech, with driver and passenger screens in addition to the central infotainment unit. There’s also a fragrance system as befitting a true high-luxury vehicle. Interestingly, Yangwang will offer the U7 in both five- and four-seat configurations. The latter is intended as the more luxurious configuration, intended to offer more comfortable provisions in the second row at the tradeoff of having room for less passengers.
Warning Signs
Ahead of the launch, expectations were high—both for performance and price. It was believed that the Yangwang U7 would land in the 1 million RMB (~$133,000 USD) price class. Right away, though, Yangwang was able to blow that figure out of the water. The U7 will retail starting at just 628,000 RMB ($86,430), making it far more price competitive in what is becoming an increasingly crowded segment.
Ok, now what everyone's waiting for, price! Everyone is shocked!!! 628,000 RMB! That's less than $90k USD. So many competitors in this price segment in China (AKA the Germans) aren't going to sleep well for months with this car at this price. WOW! pic.twitter.com/mKS4uGLfGT
— Taylor Ogan (@TaylorOgan) March 27, 2025
The positioning is clear—Yangwang is gunning for a prime chunk of the luxury market, which should put certain European automakers on notice. With the U7 and the already-released U8, the company has a pair of capable EVs that can also be bought as plug-in hybrids for those that want longer range and more options out on the road. Few automakers have such flexibility in even their flagship models.
But more than that—Yangwang’s cars are doing things the competition simply can’t. Mercedes-Benz hasn’t shown a bunny hopping supercar, and the BMW i7 can’t slide sideways out of a parking space no matter how nicely you ask. In contrast, Yangwang is building these capabilities right into the platform. While some of these might just look like cute party tricks, it’s a sign of just how far ahead the company is in these areas, and how creative it’s willing to be.
For now, Yangwang has a beachhead in China. With the industrial might of BYD at its back, it shouldn’t be long before the company is making itself a name in markets across the world. The fact that foreign media were invited to the launch is the tell that this brand is going global. The question will be whether world markets see the value in a car as advanced as the Yangwang U7, and whether these capabilities will win it fans in a fickle world. Whichever way you cut it, it’s a luxury sedan that offers insane ability for the price. That’s got to be worth something.
Image credits: Yangwang
Rumors are swirling on Chinese WeChat articles that the range extender was heavily reverse engineered from Subaru’s FA20. I’d be impressed if BYD’s getting those power numbers from regular gas
I mean . . . yes, China is definitely on the leading edge of EVs. But while there’s a few useful things here (lateral parallel parking even at the expense of your tires, the moose maneuver, etc), much of this strikes me as novel and great examples of where engineering dollars would have been better spent elsewhere.
Also it goes without saying that price has to be taken with an enormous grain of salt anytime you talk about Chinese automakers. That and the car is likely collecting data about you and sharing it with the Chinese government. Of course, the advent of social media has proven that people will accept a high price tag for “free”.
But while everyone else debates those things, I’ll be over here trying to figure out why I’d want my supercar to bunny hop.
China & EV’s right now is so similar to Japan during the Bubble Era. With the Chinese government pumping so much money into them, yet way too many companies existing than the market can sustain, each company is trying anything & everything to gain marketshare ASAP so they’ll be able to either justify getting continued support from the government, or enough marketshare to survive if the government stops giving them money.
With so much free money needing to be spent, you get outrageous designs like this. Will it be enough for Yangwang to survive another 10 years? I have no idea.
To note, while a lot of the advanced features of this car are indeed impressive, they seem to be impressive in the same way a new Transformers movie can have impressive CGI, but not an impressive storyline or plot. For another movie metaphor, this car feels a lot more “Jurassic World (2015)” than “Jurassic Park (1993)”. How else can you explain 1300 hp and AWD yet a 0-60 that only matches a base-model Corvette C8?
A threat to Musk= a 300% teriff..
Bribe the right official and we could have them for sale here.
An interesting read, but this feels a lot like a press release from the manufacturer
Looks like a very nice vehicle. But with all these new/newer automakers, I’d hold off buying one until I see how well they hold up after a few winters in the rust belt.
Will they hold up as well as the Teslas I see? Note that I’m no fan of Musk, but I have to give credit where credit is due. I have yet to see a rusty Tesla. And I’ve seen quite a few with high mileage and still going strong. The Model S/X vehicles are mostly aluminum… so those won’t rust. But I don’t even see early Model 3 vehicles getting rusty after 7 years of living in the rust belt.
VAG products also typically have bodies that hold up really well and are typically rust free for at least the first 10 years of their lives.
And my 2017 Ford C-Max still doesn’t have a spec of rust on it… though from 2017-2024, it had a relatively easy life in the hands of a retiree who only put 109,000km on it in that time. Let’s see how well it holds up in my daily commuting hands. But going by other high mileage Ford C-Max vehicles, it should hold up just fine.
There is more to a vehicle being ‘advanced’ than having the performance numbers and bells and whistles. It’s also how well it holds up under harsh real world use.
Interesting but I think tire wear would be a problem with all that crab walking and tank style driving.
That just made me think of “Tank Man” in the Tiananmen Square protests btw.
Huh. I’m not sure I want my car to do any of those things, but it’s pretty impressive nonetheless. It’s nice looking too, except for the weird headlight treatment.
Didn’t bother reading the article, but just the headline makes me think “most advanced car” is like “highest paid NFL quarterback.” Doesn’t really mean much other than whomever was the last person to sign a new contract, or in this case, the last brand to unveil a flagship car.
How much money is the Chinese government pouring into EVs to make the pricing palatable? All these articles seem to praise the Chinese makers like they are paying for positive reviews and press, but never any mention about how it is being financed. Now before anyone complains we don’t do that for the big 3, we all know that the US government isn’t pumping cash into them like China is. China is working to buy control of the EV world so they can control it. Do we want China to control it? China products are fine. I’m not anti-China. But this whole EV thing feels off to me.
If China wants to fund world decarbonization I am all for it.
I do share a few of your misgivings about control, though.
If I thought China was being altruistic and spending for reasons to benefit the world I would be much more ok with it. But I don’t believe they are and I know I am not.
There was a time when the US goverment would have fully embraced the EV and electronics revolution, and the US would have been heavily funding research and building infrastructure to prevent other countries dominating this new and promising area. But 40 years of tax cuts for the wealthy and libertarian fantasies have left the country hollowed out.
The transcontinental railroad, interstate system, and space race, are all examples of what we can do together as a country. The problems we see today are what happens when doing whats best for the country, which requires a large, stable, and well financed goverment, is replaced with drowning the goverment in a bathtub.
Twenty or more years ago, political scientists were suggesting the only counter to China’s rise would be open collaboration that encouraged China to be deeply invested in the global systems we care about. Basically, the opposite of isolationism. Here we are, living it, and no amount of screaming “la la la” with your hands over your ears will change anything.
A lot more than twenty years ago. Think 1972. And I think it worked pretty well. I ain’t gonna blame the offshoring boom of 30-40 years ago on the Chinese, that was a deliberate American choice. When I lived north of the border, I noticed how many items said “made in Canada” that would’ve said “made in China” in the US.
Exactly – the US stopped investing in infrastructure (the country itself really), and changed our tax code to favor unearned wealth over earned wealth. Now, 35 years after Reagan, the country is being led into fascism by two billionaires con-men who started out as trust fund babies.
I’m usually a grumpy old man on new tech features, but this is a combination of things I can really appreciate. Using sensors, and adaptive per wheel torque, sterring, and capabiltities to make the thing actaully more capable for daily driving is really speaking to my inner nerd, and I like it. I like it a LOT.
“Most advanced car in history”, that’s ridiculous. The most advanced car in history already happened. Any car with the Jatco Xtronic CVT is more advanced by far.
Maybe it’s in the REX?
I remember when “most advanced” would almost definitely leave me with an expectation of good things.
Now it’s an indicator of heaps of BS that I have no interest in. Lots of power, long range, power train options, low Cd, all great!! But then it dives headlong into the undesirable slop. Lots of screens, weird airplane trays, over complicated and mostly useless suspension complete with LiDAR, pointless skittering and swerving computer control.
Next time, maybe they can just deliver on the parts that make it a car, and leave the sideshow gimmicks on the whiteboard.
Luckily you can still buy used cars.