Officially Official: this is the BYD Tang hybrid SUV for China

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BYD has released the first photos of the final production version of the BYD Tang hybrid SUV for China. The BYD Tang is based on the petrol-powered BYD S7. The Tang will be launched on the Chinese car market on January 20. Price will start around 300.000 yuan before green-car subsidies, which can be as high as 60.000 yuan for a hybrid, so sticker price at the dealer will hover around the 250.000 yuan ($40.200).

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The Tang comes with a very luxurious interior with lots of leather and wood. Instruments are all digital.

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The hybrid drive-train consists of a 2.0 turbocharged four-cylinder petrol with 205hp and 320nm and an electric motor with 149hp and 200nm, good for a combined output of 354hp and 420nm, making the Tang the most powerful mass market hybrid SUV in the world. BYD claims a 0-100 acceleration 0f 4.9 seconds, a pure-electric range of 85 kilometer, and a fuel consumption of two liter per 100 kilometer.

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The instrument binnacle.

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The center dial houses the built-in air purifier, developed to filter the killing PM2.5 particles out of the dirty Chinese air, leaving the occupants of the vehicle with air slightly more breathable. The BYD S7 is fitted with the same system.

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EV or HEV. No details yet on the different mode, but ‘sport’ sounds interesting. Maybe a boost function..?

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The Tang certainly looks the business. Black wheel arches, a black wing on the window, black roof rails, and black windows. Large and angry exhaust pipes, and taillights that will bite your hand off.

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17 COMMENTS

  1. Beautiful, simply beautiful. This’ll be the breakthrough SUV that’ll lead the Great Leap Forward for all China car brands into the ‘mature’ automotive markets of the US, EU, AU, NZ and perhaps KR. The only unknowns would be safety(Whether it can breeze through E-NCAP with 5 stars, as well as fit the various safety requirements of the NHTSA and IIHS) and reliability. Somehow, I don’t think it would be that much of a problem for this automaker.

    • You’re kidding right?That is one of the ugliest, most overwrought, over-designed vehicles I have ever had the displeasure of laying eyes on! I certainly hope to never see this piece of junk or anything else like it on American roads!

      • Aesthetics are subjective so I won’t comment on those. Most SUVs nowadays are “overwrought” and “overly-designed” (Need me list examples?). “Junk”? Your statement’s just bunk. Making such sweeping statements before the test-drive bear the stench of xenophobia and bias. Remember Hyundai’s advent on American roads back in 1986? Oh and please do not display your overwhelming levels of ignorance by automatically assuming all things(Or cars for the matter) made in China’re of poor quality.

        • Xenophobia? Hah! For your information, I absolutely LOVE Chinese culture. YOU’RE the one making rash assupmtions. Simply because I wouldn’t like cheap, poorly designed cars like this to be sold in America does not make me “xenophobic.” And for your information, yes, I do remember when Hyundai first came to the US. I didn’t have any problem with them then and I love them now. This is an entirely different matter.

          • Well, ain’t you the one making preconceived notions. BYD Tang have not even made it to our shores and here you’re, condemning them as ‘poorly-designed’ or ‘cheap’. Wait till the test drive or an actual review to pop up before making such xenophobic assertions (Yes, you sound pretty darn xenophobic to me.)

    • Geely, Haval, Changan, and Chery have all hired top foreign car designers. It’s time BYD do the same. KIA would still be creating ugly cars if they didn’t hire me several years ago. LOL

      • No wonder these cars are so conservative and ‘boring’ in design. It makes me sad though that China’s automakers would not invest more in radical styling as that’ll differentiate their products from the mainstream market and help create a niche for themselves on the international stage. What China now needs though, are top notch automotive engineers that ‘ll help increase the quality, reliability and safety of their products. Hiring foreign help is but a stop-gap measure, producing and retaining home-grown talent is a more lasting solution.

        • The Chinese car design talent is there, but they lack the experience for now. This is where some foreign assistance can certainly help. Anyway, 2014 was a bad sales year for BYD. Hopefully, 2015 will be a record sales year for BYD with several new models coming down the pipeline.

  2. No SUV matches BYD Tang’s combined one-two punch of amazingly quick acceleration and superb fuel economy. This should be a game changer for BYD. I hope to see BYD have one of those drag racing challeges in 2015 where’s we can all witness the Tang blow by more expensive SUVs from other international brands.

  3. I believe that the exterior design is still a carry over from a rip off of the Lexus RX300, although as the BYD model has evolved this is less obvious from the front and rear although still clear enough from the side particularly the glass house.

    However irrespective the design is generally OK although a bit fussy. Agree that the interior looks good.

    BYD is improving fast but not quite world class IMO.

  4. Price point is still too high. To be truly competitive, BYD needs to sell the Tang at $40,000 before subsidies.

    The second motor is also really cool, the Tang has 4WD with a second motor on the other axle, meaning that the Tang can receive 300hp of full electric power and 330ft lbs of electric torque, a combined 500hp and 450ft lbs of torque under combined mode.

    BYD also needs to put the 4WD on the Qin soon enough, if the Qin manages to outsell the Chevy Volt, the Voltec engineers will quickly compensate by adding assisted engine mode under low accelerations.

  5. BYD is in dire need of professional designers. They are not that expensive to hire. Come on, stop churning out fugly shite. Your technology deserves better styling. I know it’s superficial, but it is what it is.

  6. I agree that the design as a copy of the Lexus LX, but a part the design people should evaluate that this plug in is really a wonder. Firstly the range of 85 Km in electric mode eclipse any other existing plug in hybrid, second the total power and accelleration are unique. This car will sell well , specially in Shenzhen where the recent restriction to buy regular IC car will pave the way to new energy vehicles that will have a quota of 20,000 cars over a total of max 100.000 car to be lincesed for each year.

  7. I’m also estimating that the Tang’s battery has 20 kWh, so if they drop the engine and drivetrain they can double all-electric range if they replace the lost weight with batteries. Would add 9k to the cost, though.

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