The Chinese auto industry is moving at pace. And it means business, says Paul
Imagine a Mercedes-AMG G63, but electrically powered and given one of Mansory’s medium-strength goings over. But you needn’t imagine, because it exists. I’m sitting in it. It’s not just a concept either, but already on sale, taking on deserts, swamps and blizzards. By contra-rotating its four motors it can turn in its own length, as per a Bobcat skid-steer loader. It can float, making slow hippo-like progress through calm waters by spinning its bladed alloys. That said it doesn’t look too seaworthy and they call it “emergency float mode”.
Its absurdly plush cabin is ready for six-lane highways too. For the moment just in China mind you, for this is the Yanwang U8. Yanwang, the upmarket brand of BYD, is now building more pure electric cars than Tesla, plus a pile of hybrids too. The U8 appeared at the Geneva Motor Show, and while it was easy to sneer at the OTT optics, the tech brooks no argument. And hey, a G-Wagen is hardly low-key in the styling department.
BYD had another spin-off brand on its Geneva stand too, the Denza D9, an ultra-luxe van. Meanwhile, 50 metres across the hall, MG was launching its own upmarket brand, IM. It had a series of crossovers and saloons of rather more generic aspect than the bodacious Yanwang. I met an engineer on the IM project and asked what made them unique. He said the first of the IM saloons, the L6, has the power and range of a Model 3 Performance but at the price of a normal Model 3 Dual Motor, adding that while Tesla made you pay extra for assisted driving, here it was included. Now those are hardly original aims, but if they’ve been achieved the people will surely come.
British people among them. MG will sell the IM cars in Britain. BYD UK says it’s “considering” the Yanwang. The Chinese car industry’s global ambition takes another step up, and it’s doing it without heritage.
