BYD has some interesting models in 2025

A year ago, I wrote a blog entry on the models and tech to look forward to in 2024. It turned out that model I was most looking forward to, Shark 6, was never launched in China. It is interesting as a model that was designed from day 1 for the oversea market. Due to China’s strict laws around pickup ownership, Shark 6 could conceivably remain exclusively overseas for another year. Other models like YangWang U7 and Denza N9 also never found their way to the market despite a lot of photos and videos about them. It is likely both of those models will get launched over the next few months.

Now, the Z9/Z9GT sedan did get launched toward the end of the year. Same with FangChengBao Bao-8. Both have been quite popular in the first few months. They have lifted BYD’s profile in premium market.

I was also wrong about Han and Song refresh. It turned out that we just got Song L and will get Han L this year. We never got a Song+ EV refresh, but it continues to sell quite well. 2025 Han EV also continued to sell well with upgraded L2+ ADAS and 800V support. Maybe I should have been looking forward to incremental upgrades all along instead of generational leaps in already popular platforms.

It turned out that Xia and FangChengBao Tai-3 also didn’t get launched last year and will come out sometime this year. I guess for some models, the release time will take some period of time.

Surprisingly, it was Qin L and Seal 06 that were the models of the year.

With that said, let’s take a look at some of the models expected to be introduced this year (not including the already launched Xia)

The first list contains many models that will likely get introduced starting later this month. Among this list, Tang L and Han L are the most hyped models. The power on them are incredible. Han L EV can do 0 to 200km/h in pretty much sector leading figures. The charging speed will also be quite incredible. They are also going to be the first 1000V platforms globally. At the same time, Qin L EV, new Yuan+, new Qin+ DM-i (using DM5.0) and Seal 05 DM-i are all getting launched over the next couple of months. They will bring faster charging, DM5.0 PHEVs, L2+ HW NOA ADAS and new interior across wide range of entry level models. A lot of A segment sedan and SUVs coming up.

At the same time, there will be more major launches of existing and new lower priced models in 2025. Seagull and Dolphin are two of the best selling models in BYD’s lineup. Both are expected to get upgrades this year for improved interior (including fridge) and upgraded L2+ ADAS. It’s unclear to me when these upgraded variants will get launched.

Aside from that, we are expected to see new variants launched also. Sea Lion 05 EV and FCB Tai-3 SUV EV will both launch in the first half of the year. The former will be a slightly larger version of Yuan+ and the latter will probably slot in the 199-249k RMB range. Both should sell well. Seal 06 EV will also be launched and likely to come in the market as sister model to Qin L EV. Both will like use E3.0 Evo platform and have much better charging performance and ADAS version what’s currently available in this price segment. I really don’t think XPeng’s Mona M03 will sell well after these two models are launched. Sea Lion 07 DM-i/p will also be launched. They along with Tai-3 will all have support for drone hangar. That will be another major tech improvement this year. More and more BYD SUVs will have drone support. And finally, YangWang U7 expect to be launched finally in Q1. It will be battling Huawei’s S800 and NIO’s ET9 later this year. It is probably the most technologically advanced model, but can it outshine those two in reputation and sales?

Finally, Denza will also get many new models this year. The most immediate one is N9. This may be the most important model for Denza this year. BYD needs a flagship SUV to challenge L9 and M9. It’s already doing well with Bao-8, but N9 will be a lot larger and have E3f as well as drone support. It will be significantly faster than its competition. BYD has put a lot of resources here. Denza also expects to launch all new N8 this year. This will likely to challenge the new AITO M8 and Li Auto L8. The earlier N8 was a giant failure. This one will actually be large than Tang and Tang L. It slots in nicely below N9 in the flagship SUV lineup. Beyond that, Denza also expects to have a new sports car (was originally showcased as FangChengBao Super 9). There will be an ultra large MPV called D9L that will slot above D9 as the flagship MPV. Denza also plans two more sedans. One aims to challenge Benz S class and be its flagship sedan. The list below also says there will be a model that’s targeting Benz E class, but that seems to describe just Z9 sedan. I don’t know if they need another sedan beyond that.

So, BYD has a lot of models planned. Some are just model refreshes while others are all new models. BYD is making a huge concerted effort into the 250k+ RMB segment. Denza is getting a lot of resources. BEV, charging network and L2+ ADAS are all major area of focus this year. I’m expecting model releases to be fast and furious starting February 10th.