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As Elon Musk steps away, yet again, from the idea of a $25,000 Tesla, let’s take this opportunity to zoom out and appreciate what a truly affordable EV can be. For this we need to ignore the Nissan Leaf—currently the cheapest EV in the US at $29,280—and skip over Europe, home to the adorable but flawed $10,000 Citroen Ami, and head to China.
“Electric” may be the most appropriate word to describe the atmosphere at the recent Beijing motor show, now considered to be one of the world’s largest automobile exhibitions.
Looking for a bargain EV? Pickings are slim in the US (the Nissan Leaf starts at $29,255), but across the border in Mexico consumers can buy the BYD Dolphin Mini from Chinese automaker BYD for a mere $21,000. It’s a small hatchback with vague Honda Fit overtones. It will reportedly go 190 miles on a charge, and if you want more there’s the Dolphin Mini Plus with 252 miles of range—and a $23,000 bottom line. According to BYD, there are no plans to sell these very affordable EVs in the US. But the company—which is scouting plant locations in Mexico—might have a very good economic incentive to do so. Imported Chinese cars are subject to prohibitive 25% tariffs, which is why they’re still scarce here, but getting plentiful in Europe and South America. The sky-high duties are only for cars brought to the US from China. Imports from Mexico built with Chinese parts pay only a 2.5% du
BYD’s entry-level all-electric 5-door hatchback, the Dolphin Mini (Seagull) added a new edition to the mix in Mainland China. It is called the Honor Edition. It launched with a starting price of 69,800 yuan (9,700 USD). 4,000 yuan (555 USD) lower than the Dolphin Mini’s initial launch in April last year.
The BYD Qin L is a new mid-size PHEV sedan from the world’s biggest new energy vehicle manufacturer. The Chinese regulator exposed its specs as it applied for the sales license. It is a 4.8-meter saloon with a 5-gen DM-i plug-in hybrid system and up to 90 km of range.
The BYD Dolphin Champion Edition has already arrived at dealers in China and is getting ready for the market launch. The domestic Dolphin will become closer to its European sibling thanks to the new version. Its sales start is scheduled for February.
Chinese car giant BYD – which overtook Tesla to become the world's biggest seller of electric cars in the final months of 2023 – has unveiled a $200,000 luxury sedan to take on competitors from Germany.
Not content with stealing Tesla’s title of world’s biggest EV producer, BYD is now squaring up directly to one of Musk’s most famous electric cars, the Model S Plaid.BYD’s newly launched YangWang luxury division has just revealed its flagship U7, which, confusingly, was known as the U6 in the run up to the reveal. The large four-door coupe joins the U8 SUV and U9 supercar in YangWang’s electric lineup, and comes with a hefty ¥1 million ($140,000) price.Though exact dimensions and technical specs for the sporty sedan aren’t yet known, YangWang has revealed that the slippery body dreamed up by former Audi designer Wolfgang Egger has a 0.195 Cd, making it extremely efficient.