This New 1,297 HP All-Electric Sedan Is as Fast as a Supercar
BYD's sub-brand, Yangwang, has just started selling its new U7 electric sedan. In addition to its bevy of other features, the sleek car offers up 1,287 hp and a starting price of about $86,000 at current exchange rates, Car & Driver reported.
More from Robb Report
A Lavishly Restored 300-Year-Old Villa in Sicily Hits the Market for $5.6 Million
Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy Just Sold Their N.Y.C. Townhouse for $9.9 Million
This Ultra-Rare Custom '57 Chevy Convertible Is Heading to Auction
All that horsepower comes from the U7's four electric motors, with one for each wheel. The sedan also has 1,239 ft. lbs. of torque, as well as a 167 top speed and a zero-to-62 mph time of 2.9 seconds, according to Yangwang. As far as weight, the new launch leans on the hefty side, coming in at around 6,800 pounds and 207.3 inches long.
The U7 comes with a 135.5 kWh battery, which allows the car to get 447 miles on a single charge. That stat is based on China's CLTC test, though, and the range would be shorter if tested using the EPA's procedure, Car & Driver reported. The brand also says the sedan can go from 30 to 80 percent charged in under 20 minutes. And if you're not looking for a pure EV, the model can be offered in a plug-in hybrid. In that case, you're getting a 52.4 kWh battery mated to all four electric motors alongside a turbocharged 2.0-liter flat-four engine. The battery can take you 124 miles, and once the gas engine comes into play, you're looking at a 621-mile range.
You can also expect to find rear-wheeling steeling on offer, as well as a DiSus-Z suspension system. That system is a switch up from the usual DiSus-P hydraulic damper found on other Yangwang models; instead, the U7 uses linear actuators, which, for example, lets the car drive on three wheels if one happens to blow by lifting the affected wheel. Moving to the God's Eye driver-assistance system, it offers up Level 2 hands-free driving capability thanks to three lidar sensors, five radar sensors, 13 high-def cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors.
Inside, the sedan, which is available in a four or five-seat configuration, is coated in a luxe red Nappa leather. The next things your eyes may wander to are the 12.8-inch central display and the 23.6-inch digital instrument cluster. Your front passenger nabs a six-inch screen of their own, along with chairs that can adjust in 20 ways and include ventilation, heating, and massaging. The rear passengers, meanwhile, have a pair of 12.8-inch screens for entertaining. Also in the rear are foldout tables, a mini fridge, and high-tech armrests meant to regulate your temperature. Everyone inside, though, can enjoy the U7's 23-speaker sound system.
Sadly, the U7 will most likely never make its way stateside, Car & Driver reported. That doesn't mean you can't be impressed by the car maker's latest launch, though.
Best of Robb Report
The 2024 Chevy C8 Corvette: Everything We Know About the Powerful Mid-Engine Beast
The World's Best Superyacht Shipyards
The ABCs of Chartering a Yacht
Click here to read the full article.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
30 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
China plans to open a solar-powered shoe factory in Cuba
China will open a new solar-powered factory in Cuba that will make flip-flops and other footwear amid the island's severe energy crisis. It is a joint venture created on July 7 called DuoNex S.A. between a Cuban entity and Chinese company Hangzhou Iunke Industrial Development Co., Ltd., according to the official Cuban press. A previous report stated that the new company was established with the goal of 'developing, producing and marketing footwear, leather goods, saddlery, plastics and textiles.' According to the official newspaper Granma, María Eugenia Fabra Tamayo, Business Director at Industrias Nexus S.A., says the goal of the company is to produce up to three pairs of shoes per capita. The first production lines will include flip-flops, protective boots, athletic and executive footwear. Fabra said that the products will be targeted at sectors such as communications, tourism, agriculture, the sugar industry, non-state management, and the general population, through chain stores and e-commerce platforms. Fabra also said that the products would not be limited to the domestic market, but that the plan is to export them to Latin America and the Caribbean, although the destination countries were not specified. The company also plans to produce plastic products, such as containers for industrial paint. The factory will be located in the municipality of Regla in Havana, with an initial workforce of 63 and the creation of more than 40 additional jobs. While Cuba will provide the labor and infrastructure, China will be responsible for providing designs, molds, financing for technological improvements and purchasing spare parts. China will also supply some of the raw materials, while the Cuban partner will negotiate agreements with other national companies to obtain leather and packaging materials. To ensure operational capacity during frequent power outages, the company will rely on photovoltaic solar panels imported from China, with the goal of becoming energy self-sufficient. China has become one of Cuba's main allies amid the deep crisis plaguing the island, strengthening ties in key sectors such as tourism. The Cuban government has eliminated visa requirements for Chinese travelers, while this year China began offering Cubans free visas to visit the Asian country if they meet the requirements.
Business Insider
an hour ago
- Business Insider
OpenAI chairman says training your own AI model is a 'good way to burn through millions'
There's a scene in "The Dark Knight" where the Joker sets ablaze a massive pile of money. Deciding to develop your own frontier AI model today may be a similar exercise in burning cash — just ask OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor. Taylor, who has worked for three companies that have trained LLMs, including Google, Facebook, and OpenAI, called training new AI models a "good way to burn through millions of dollars." On a recent episode of the Minus One podcast, Taylor advised AI founders to build services and use-cases, but not new frontier models entirely. "Unless you work at OpenAI or Anthropic or Google or Meta, you're probably not building one of those," said Taylor, who also cofounded Sierra AI. "It requires so much capital that it will tend towards consolidation." That high bar of capital has stopped any "indie data center market" from forming, Taylor said, because it simply costs too much. Taylor advised that founders work with the AI juggernauts instead — which, it's worth noting, is something that AI giants like OpenAI, where he's chairman, would directly benefit from. OpenAI sells "tokens" to access its API, which developers can build into their applications and programs. While the American LLM market remains largely consolidated, international players have tested Taylor's theory. In January, DeepSeek released its R1 reasoning model and a corresponding chatbot. DeepSeek used fewer, less advanced chips to build its LLM, minimizing capital costs. The Chinese AI app shot to No. 1 on the App Store charts, surpassing ChatGPT and igniting a debate in tech and on Wall Street about whether tech giants were overspending on AI model development. In his podcast interview, Taylor laid out other paths that entrepreneurs could take in the AI market, rather than training a new model. One was the "AI tools market." "This is the proverbial pickaxes in the gold rush," Taylor said. "It's a dangerous space because I think there's a lot of things that are scratching an itch today that the foundation model providers might do tomorrow." Entrepreneurs could also try to build what Taylor called an "applied AI company." "What were SaaS applications in 2010 will be agent companies in 2030, in my opinion," Taylor said. Building a model from scratch, though, is a sure-fire way to "destroy your capital," Taylor said. He called handmade models "fast-depreciating assets," and not cheap ones either, costing the builder millions of dollars.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Automakers are going big on in-car subscriptions. Are customers buying it?
Consumers don't want to pay for it. Automakers are still pushing hard. In-car subscriptions have become a growing obsession for many automakers which see strong revenue potential from recurring customer payments. But it appears that initial attempts to paywall built-in hardware and software features, such as cameras, sensors or navigation perks, haven't been too successful, with few drivers willing to take on yet another monthly bill. That has brought automakers to their next challenge: convincing customers to subscribe. An S&P Global Mobility survey this month found the number of respondents who were willing to pay for connected services in their vehicle dropped to 68 per cent this year, compared with 86 per cent in 2024. "Subscription-based services (navigation, Wi-Fi, etc.) are increasingly being met with resistance from price-sensitive consumers who may not see the value in paying recurring fees for features they do not frequently use," the report said. Drivers now have a range of options to subscribe to: semi-autonomous driving, roadside assistance, in-vehicle apps, stolen vehicle assistance and access to Wi-Fi — all at different price tiers. However, steep subscription costs on top of sticker prices of new vehicles remain one of the biggest barriers for many consumers. To get past that, some automakers are offering temporary complementary access to connective services in hopes of gaining loyal customers. Ford Motor Co.'s semi-autonomous driving feature costs between $650 and $900 per year after a 90-day free trial, for example. General Motors Co.'s OnStar subscription can be as high as $39.99 a month after a free trial, according to its website. Automakers which are known for their affordable prices have also joined the race for subscription-based connected services. Kia Corp., for example, has a three-tier subscription offering for owners following a three-year free trial period, which offers services such as a charging station locator, digital key access via smartphone and roadside emergency services. The subscription model is in its evolution phase, said Stephanie Brinley, associate director of autointelligence at S&P Global Mobility. "We're trying to figure out what consumers are willing to pay for, how much they're willing to, (and) how they want it bundled," she said. Despite the initial resistance, automakers haven't given up yet. Instead, they're rolling out brand new technology and features in the hopes of enticing drivers to pay for subscriptions. "They're pivoting to that new tech," said Daniel Ross, senior manager of industry insights with Canadian Black Book. "It's more on what's new and what they've never had before." Ross said as newer technology comes out, there will be more opportunities for automakers to release new generations of cars with updated software. And that's one of the pitches for customers to subscribe, he added. "If you want that type of technology that's advanced, that's the newest age, that's something you can tell your friends about, this is the way you pay for it," Ross said. Brinley said automakers are building a road map to help scale this in-car technology and these features to make it more affordable for consumers in the long run — all while keeping personalization at its core. "Once you have the platform and the service developed, the margin is really high," Brinley said. "The fact that it's connected is not really the element that consumers get excited about," she said. "It's what does that connectivity do for you as an owner?" Some customers may find value in GM's OnStar safety and security package that alerts for help during a crash, while others may subscribe to Ford's self-driving feature for a month-long road trip. "The appeal of a feature is that it makes driving easier," she said. Brinley said automakers have started to talk about their revenue expectations from subscription-based services more concretely. That "means they're making progress," she said. On recent earnings calls, GM projected revenue from its hands-free feature, Super Cruise, will be more than $200 million in 2025 and is expected to more than double in 2026. Meanwhile, Ford said the number of its vehicles equipped with the hands-free driving feature, BlueCruise, have more than doubled in the last year to just under 700,000 units. "You can see our relationship with our customers no longer ends the point of sale or financing. We're starting to build lasting relationships and creating new avenues for reoccurring growth at Ford," CEO Jim Farley told analysts during its fourth-quarter earnings call. Ross said automakers are banking on the trickle-down effect of the connected services subscription. Often, features first introduced to high-end customers gradually filter their way down to mainstream customers, who are looking for affordable and budget-conscious options, he explained. Brinley said the subscription model is still in its early stages. As it progresses, so will consumer expectations. "If you have a car that has some of these features and then you go to buy the next car, you think that it just should be there," Brinley said. As consumers get more used to connectivity, their expectation of what comes with a vehicle and what they're going to pay will also evolve, she said. "There's probably going to be a lot of flexibility over time in how people choose to consume that," Brinley said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2025. Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
