Yangwang

I've got to have the smell.

And, um, but again, we back to what the ethos of Blackbird, it became clear to us that we didn't have to continue to fight the Chinese, the Yang Wang, you know, 3000 horsepower, you know, 308 mile an hour car.

Um, And it gave us an opportunity for Blackbird to zig while the market was zagging, right? So what can we do different than if everybody's or most companies are going this direction, how can we go that direction? And so I think one of the vehicles that was a strong inspiration for Blackbird was the Porsche Carrera GT, right? And so manual, normally aspirated, high revving, analog.

We knew Blackbird had to be a manual.

It's hugely difficult.

And if it was easy, then everybody would have already done it, right? So you've got Bugatti took a car out in 2019 and went 304.

Then you got BYD with their Yang Wang, the 3,000 horsepower EV that went 308 last year, I think.

Yeah.

Unless

it's a Yang Wang.

And yes, it's the Yang Wang, as you say.

Yes, exactly.

Because they're hyper expensive and only Nick Politis has got one.

Pikes.

Pee, madam, pee.

Imagine if he was trying to do that with a Yang Wang.

So if you pick up a taxi in almost any Chinese city, there's a probably 70 to 80% chance it's gonna be a BYD.

That has actually probably slightly damaged their brand in China and made them look a little bit more like an affordable ride-hailing brand rather than the premium brand that they're trying to be, because obviously they've got Yangwang, they've got Denze, and they've got Fangchengbao, who are all pumping out quite high-end cars.

So now they've launched a fifth brand called Linghui, or I think it's Lingxi or Linghui, to... basically serve the ride-hailing market so they can separate BYD a bit on their own.

And I think that's probably a way to build up their general standard, their perception in the public eye as being a very competent mainstream brand, you know, to go up against the likes of Geely.

It's about powertrain and ride and handling and safety.

Who? Yang Wang.

Sadly, no.

Possibly too new to the market.

What about the Dongfeng? Possibly too new to the market.

How long before the Yang Wang and the Dongfeng turn up, eh? Or the Dinza? it is, of course, Mercedes-Benz.

They've got a reliability rating of 92.42.

Even, by the way, the worst in the list of worst, it's at 81.68.

He's done the Aston Martin DB12S, which is a sensational car.

You'll be thrilled to know that Denz is doing well in Yangwang.

Yangwang, still going nicely.

Five minutes away from

seven.

Okay, yeah.

So the sales of the R&D's premium brands, which are Denza, Fang Cheng Bao, and Yangwang, climbed 61% last quarter, and now they account for just short of 13% of their passenger vehicle sales.

So it's not just the BYD vehicles anymore, it's the Denza, Fang Cheng, and Yangwang, which are, you know, very much higher-end vehicle.

Like you won't...

Think a Denza probably would start at, like, probably 50,000 in the US or something like that, because they're not cheap vehicles.

Welcome back to the podcast.

On EV News China, the Yangwang U7 sets a testing benchmark, Leapmotor tracks for one million, and the new Li Auto Mega approaches.

Plus, stay tuned.

Later in the show, I'll tell you how China is increasingly becoming the rule maker regarding EVs.

Every day I bring you the latest headlines, insights, and analysis from the heart of China's booming EV industry, and decode how fast-moving developments in the East shape the global EV landscape.

Here's a fascinating story about fast charging and battery degradation.

The Yangwang U7, that's a premium car from BYD, just completed 350 flash charging sessions and saw minimal degradation.

Perhaps this is some pushback to a lot of chatter that I saw when they released their Blade Battery 2.0 and flash charging, that people said online, "Oh, that's just gonna kill the battery with high temperatures and battery deg, and sure you can charge in five minutes, but it's gonna fry the battery." So what do they do? Well, Yangwang says the production version of its 2026 U7, that's a pure electric sedan, did 30,000 kilometers of testing.