BYD Yangwang U9 hypercar won’t be sold Down Under

The dancing BYD Yangwang U9 hypercar has been given the thumbs down for Australian release.

But its luxurious stablemate, the plug-in hybrid Yangwang U8 large SUV, is headed for Australia by the end of 2025.

“I would love to say yes [the U9 is coming to Australia],” local BYD importer Luke Todd told carsales at last week’s Japan Mobility Show.

“But in reality the U9 is a hypercar or supercar or whatever you want to call it… Personally, I don’t think there is enough demand there in Australia.

“[But] Who knows, we might bring it in for some track activities and things like that, but the reality is it’s such a small market.”

Both the U8 and U9 were revealed when BYD launched the luxurious Yangwang sub-brand in early 2023.

Both vehicles share a quad-drive e-motor powertrain that’s claimed to produce 820kW in the U9 and enables a sub-2.0sec 0-100km/h time.

The U8 adds a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine as a range-extender, facilitating a 1000km range.

Both vehicles are priced in China at the equivalent of $A240,000.

At its launch, the two-door coupe showed off its ability to ‘dance’ with all four wheels off the ground and drive unfettered with only three attached wheels thanks to its electromechanical body control system.

While Todd is convinced the U8 has a local market and at the Japan Mobility Show last week was able to get BYD to sign off on the expense of a right-hand drive conversion program, there’s no chance of that happening for the U9.

But the managing director of EVDirect doesn’t feel the same way about the U9.

“The U9 is off the charts. I’ve seen it in the flesh a few times now and it’s so great.

“But the number of people that would buy that in Australia is very limited and that’s people who could afford it and would want it.”

Todd said the U9 also didn’t tally with BYD’s Australian “affordable luxury” strategy.

“Once you start getting into hypercars it’s not affordable luxury.”

While the U8’s arrival would seem to fall outside the definition of “affordable luxury”, BYD’s other upcoming arrivals such as the Seal sedan, the Seal U SUV and the Chinese car-maker’s unnamed ute fall into that category.

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