BYD’s Yangwang U8 equipped with new tech to debut at Geneva Motor Show

Build Your Dreams (BYD), one of the largest electric vehicle manufacturers in the world, will be debuting the Yangwang U8 SUV at the upcoming 2024 Geneva Motor Show. 

Yangwang U8

The U8 is made by BYD luxury sub-brand Yangwang which was first introduced last year at the Guangzhou Auto Show. It is positioned at the highest target market amongst BYD’s sub-brands. Think of it as BYD’s equivalent of what Genesis is for Hyundai. 

This isn’t the only model from the BYD Group that’ll be gracing the aforementioned car event, but this SUV will be taking center stage as it will be featuring two newly developed  technologies that the brand touts as “groundbreaking.” 

One of these is the BYD e4, which the China-based brand says is the “world’s first mass-produced four-motor independent drive technology EV platform.” This provides the Yangwang U8 the ability to precisely control torque going to each of its wheels. 

This means a great deal of control and better on-road stability for the vehicle, but BYD claims that it also allows the SUV to perform 360-degree tank turns, or in simpler terms, it can spin in place. This system allows the vehicle to do this by making its left and right wheel sets spin in opposite directions. One can imagine that this can be useful for maneuvering in tight roads or stuffy parking lots. 

This SUV can turn on its axis just like a tank

The second one is the BYD DiSus Intelligent Body Control System. According to the company, this breakthrough is an active and intelligent system that makes the vehicle more agile, whilst providing better rollover mitigation. It also works to reduce occupant displacement, or occupant movement whenever the car performs high-speed cornering, acceleration, and hard braking. 

Of note, the U8 is a series plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that uses a 2.0-liter inline-4 gasoline engine at the front, combined with four electric motors for each wheel. Altogether, it can generate a whopping 1,197 horsepower from its hybrid powertrain. As per the brand, this allows this 3.8-ton EV SUV to go from zero to 100 km/h in just 3.6 seconds. 

Other cars under the BYD Group that will be presented at the 2024 Geneva Motor Show include the Euro-spec BYD Tang seven-seater EV and the BYD Seal U DM-i. 

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