On October 20, a local media outlet reported that orders for the Yangwang U8, which was officially launched on September 20, exceeded 30,000 units.
(Image credit: Yangwang)
The first production cars of the Yangwang U8 have rolled off the production line and deliveries will begin soon, the BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY) premium brand announced today.
That appears to be slightly later than the model's originally planned start of deliveries, with Yangwang saying in a Weibo post that it appreciates all of its customers' wait and support.
Yangwang officially launched the U8 in China on September 20, with a starting price of 1.098 million yuan ($150,670). Deliveries were expected to begin in October, it said at the time.
The Yangwang U8 is built at a BYD production site in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, the model's regulatory filing showed.
On October 20, a Shaanxi Daily report said the Yangwang U8 had gone into production with orders for more than 30,000 units.
The report did not go into further detail, including whether those orders were for refundable or non-refundable deposits.
BYD officially launched the Yangwang brand on January 5 and began pre-sales of the U8 on April 18.
Yangwang planned two versions for the car -- the Premium Edition and the Off-road Master Edition. They had the same pre-sale price, with the difference being that the former has more features and the latter has more room for modifications.
Yangwang only launched the U8's Premium Edition at its September launch event, and the launch date for the Off-road Master Edition has yet to be determined.
Unlike Shenzhen-based BYD, which uses a dealer sales model, Yangwang will adopt the direct sales model currently used by major new car makers.
On September 28, Yangwang said it opened its first store, located in Shanghai's bustling business district and tourist destination, the Bund.
On October 30, the company announced that its first 22 stores had opened for trial operation, covering 21 cities including Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Qingdao.
Yangwang aims to open more than 90 directly-managed stores in more than 40 cities in China by the end of this year.
($1 = RMB 7.2925)
BYD's ultra-luxury Yangwang U8 has over 30,000 orders, report says
