BYD introduces their strongest Tesla rival to date

Chinese electric car giant BYD is introducing a new electric SUV, which serves as a significant competitor to Tesla’s Model Y.

BYD’s Denza brand has already received over 20,000 pre-orders for its N7 all-electric SUV and announced a price range of 301,800 yuan to 379,800 yuan. These prices directly rival Tesla’s Model Y, whose latest prices range from 263,900 yuan to 363,900 yuan.

The Denza N7 will start deliveries in approximately two weeks, according to the company.

“The Denza N7 is targeted at the premium midsize crossover segment, placing it in direct competition with the Tesla Model Y and the Nio ES6,” said Tu Le, founder of Beijing-based advisory firm Sino Auto Insights.

“Denza has been relatively unknown for a few years, but BYD is now ready to showcase its revitalized brand. The media coverage highlights their confidence in the product and their determination to put pressure on existing players,” he said.

During the launch event, BYD displayed clips of positive reviews from local car media during test drives. The livestream of the event on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media platform, garnered nearly 2 million views, significantly surpassing the 200,000 views of a Nio car launch livestream in late 2021.

Following Nio’s example, the Denza N7 launch in Beijing featured a live music performance.

Mercedes-Benz Group holds a 10% stake in the Denza brand. The brand representative mentioned that their previous electric model, the D9 multi-purpose vehicle, has achieved over 10,000 monthly sales since March. The car is already available in Thailand and will soon be released in Hong Kong, Macao, and Europe.

The Denza N7 launch showcased a range of features that compete with offerings from Nio, Tesla, and other major players in China’s electric car market. These features include fast battery charging, in-house driving assist tech, and a variety of in-car entertainment options.

“Denza N7 is the first luxury SUV to penetrate the market of BBA,” read a slide at the launch event, referring to the high-end German brands Benz, BMW, and Audi.

Denza’s general manager of sales, Zhao Changjiang, highlighted the N7’s data privacy features such as independent chip storage and the ability to disable cameras. The Denza N7 also boasts an augmented reality head-up display, which digitally projects information onto the road in front of the driver. Certain models also include BYD’s new shock absorption technology for a smoother ride, a feature not yet offered by domestic rivals.

Yang Dongsheng, vice president of BYD, emphasized the car’s driver-assist technology, which utilizes Qualcomm chips and Nvidia Orin, commonly used in assisted driving systems. Importantly, Orin is not affected by the U.S. bans on Nvidia’s sales of more advanced chips to China. The car’s cockpit is also integrated with the Android smartphone operating system.

Craig Zeng, CFO of online car information and shopping site Autohome, stated in an interview last month that for young people accustomed to mobile phones, in-car connectivity systems are more appealing than driver-assist technology. Zeng also predicted that competition in China’s new energy vehicle market would increase in the price range of 400,000 yuan to 500,000 yuan and above. He noted that the primary price range for cars in China has been 100,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan.

New energy vehicles include hybrid-powered cars.

The Denza N7 SUV launch coincides with a surge in deliveries for major electric car startups. Nio exceeded 10,000 monthly deliveries once again, while Xpeng achieved over 8,000. Li Auto, whose cars come with a fuel tank to charge the battery and extend the driving range, reported more than 32,000 vehicle deliveries for June. For comparison, Tesla sold approximately 42,500 cars in China in May.

BYD remains a dominant player in the market, with 128,196 battery-powered passenger car sales in June, an 84% increase from the previous year.