Yangwang's more than 70 stores are under construction and it will open more than 90 directly-managed stores in more than 40 cities in China within the year.
(Image credit: Yangwang)
BYD's (OTCMKTS: BYDDY) premium brand Yangwang has opened its first store, following the official launch of its first model last week.
Yangwang's first store is in Shanghai, located in the city's bustling business district and tourist destination, the Bund, according to information shared by the brand on Weibo today.
As its first showroom store in China, the experience store on the Bund in Shanghai will be the first window for Yangwang's products, technologies and services to reach customers, it said.
The store will mainly provide sales and product experience services to customers, and will also regularly organize brand events, test drives and technology sharing activities for users and car enthusiasts.
Unlike the dealer sales model used by Shenzhen-based BYD, Yangwang will adopt the direct sales model currently used by major new car-making powerhouses.
Yangwang's sales channels will include showroom stores and center stores, it said today.
Yangwang's showroom stores will be located in carefully selected urban business districts, offering sales and product experience services, as well as organizing regular user activities. The Shanghai store falls into this category.
Its center stores will offer more functions including brand experience, sales, delivery, and after-sales service. Some such stores will also have an extreme technology experience area to facilitate customers to experience the extreme performance of the Yangwang U8, it said.
Yangwang stores in several other cities, including Beijing, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Xi'an, will open in October, it said.
More than 70 of the brand's stores are under construction, with the first center store set to open in Beijing, it said.
Within this year, Yangwang will open more than 90 directly-managed stores in more than 40 cities in China, covering first-tier and major second-tier cities, according to the brand.
BYD officially unveiled the Yangwang brand on January 5 and gave the Yangwang U8 and Yangwang U9, both of which will feature e⁴ technology, a debut.
e⁴ is China's first mass-produced four-motor independent drive technology platform, capable of precisely controlling the vehicle's four-wheel dynamics thanks to quad-motor independent vector control technology, BYD said at the time.
Yangwang began pre-sales of the U8 on April 18, the first day of the Shanghai auto show, with a pre-sale price of RMB 1.098 million yuan ($150,380).
Yangwang U8 offers two versions -- the Premium Edition and the Off-road Master Edition. Their pre-sale prices are the same, with the difference being that the former is more richly equipped, while the latter has more room for modification.
On September 20, Yangwang officially launched the U8's Premium Edition, with a starting price of RMB 1,098,000 as in the pre-sale, and deliveries will begin in October.
The official price and launch date for the model's Off-road Master Edition have yet to be announced.
($1 = RMB 7.3015)
BYD Yangwang's 1st model U8 officially launched for $150,600
