In China, a new open war has started in the world of electric cars, and it is not about which brand achieves greater autonomy, more efficient charging or a lower Price. The new battle is fought at more than 350 km/h on a carbon fiber chassis and with low-flying missiles powered by more than 1,300 HP.
China has begun its fight in the field of very high-performance electric supercars. It is a time bomb whose shock wave is going to shake the foundations (and especially the sales) of Western supercar manufacturers.
The race has already begun and there is no turning back
Lamborghini would not be manufacturing the supercars it currently manufactures if, after Enzo Ferrari’s offence, Ferrucio Lamborghini had not insisted on improving the performance of his arrogant rival’s cars. The Ferrari F40 would not exist if it had not had the Porsche 959 in front of it as a target to surpass, to give just a few examples.
Something similar is happening in China where a series of brands that have learned (and very well) to manufacture electric cars, have now taken a step further. Its new objective is to boost the performance of its components to enter the field of high-performance supercars that are being manufactured in Italy, the US or Japan.
The first models in this segment have already begun to see the light and are showing their teeth to the Lamborghini, Ferrari or McLaren in terms of high performance and, above all, in terms of technological innovation. Although they have no interest in leaving China. For now.
The Chinese trident of supercars
BYD announced the creation of a new brand, Yangwang, which would be in charge of designing and developing its high-end cars with models such as the Yangwang U9, a supercar from the pencils of Wolfgang Egger, a veteran designer with experience at Alfa Romeo, Seat, Audi and Lamborghini.
The Yangwang U9 is a 4.97 meter long electric supercar, which comes equipped with four independent electric motors that sum 1,305 CV generating a torque of 1,680 Nm. Such thrust allows it to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in just 2.36 seconds and, in addition, it approves a maximum speed of 309.19 kilometers on paper, although in track tests it has managed to exceed 391.94 km/h , as published Car and Driver.
Much more popular is the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra, an ultravitaminized version of its base model that offers a whopping 1.548 CV and 1,770 Nm of torque that catapult this supercar from 0 to 100 km/h in 1.97 seconds, to 200 km/h in 5.87 seconds, and sets the bar very high with a top speed of 350 km/h .
The third supercar in the race is born from the union of the technology company Baidu and the electric car manufacturer Geely, which following the example of BYD have launched the JiYue brand to develop the division of high-performance electric hypercars. Their first proposal: JiYue ROBO X EV
The ROBO 1.850 CV. According to the manufacturer, the ROBO That is, it cuts half a second off the Yangwang’s time. The competition is served.
The shock wave
ROBO
However, the fact that China has started this “arms race” internally will be the seed so that, in a few years, its technology will be prepared to manufacture high-performance electric supercars that will put Western manufacturers in trouble. They have already done it with the general electric car market, and they can repeat the move with 250,000 euro hypercars loaded to the brim with their own high technology.
However, the shock wave of the battle of Chinese electric hypercars will not only be felt when these brands decide to cross the barriers of China. If these brands manage to win over the increasingly numerous Chinese millionaires, they can gain local sales from Western manufacturers such as Ferrari, Porsche or Lamborghini.
To put into context what China means for supercar manufacturers, according to Porsche’s 2023 financial report, China accounts for 21% of the brand’s sales, behind only Europe and North America. According to Ferrari’s financial report, China represents 10.9% of total sales. For Lamborghini, sales in China account for 8% of the total.
The common denominator in all of them during 2023 and 204 has been the progressive decline in sales of their supercars in Asia in general, and in China in particular. As local brands present their proposals, the electric supercar market will become much more competitive and without the need to leave China. Although first they have to convince the millionaires that the electric car, although a super sports car, is an alternative to the combustion car.
In WorldOfSoftware | “The rest of the cars are like phones with 2G and at BYD we are already going for 5G”, Stella Li, global VP of BYD
Imagen | Xiaomi, Yangwang, JiYue
