BYD Co. unveiled its largest electric vehicle yet, the seven-seat Great Tang SUV, in Xi'an as the automaker pushes into premium territory with mass-market pricing. The 17-foot-long vehicle starts at 239,900 yuan ($35,500), undercutting the company's original plans and positioning it against domestic luxury competitors.

The Great Tang directly challenges premium offerings like Huawei's Aito M9 and Li Auto's L9, which typically sell for up to 500,000 yuan. Since its preliminary debut at the Beijing Auto Show in April, the SUV has accumulated over 150,000 pre-orders, though production constraints are emerging as second-generation blade battery output struggles to meet demand.

Chairman Wang Chuanfu acknowledged manufacturing bottlenecks at an investor event last week. The long-range rear-wheel-drive variant achieves up to 950 kilometers on a single charge under Chinese testing standards. BYD's vertical integration strategy, developing batteries, semiconductors and chassis in-house, enables this pricing advantage as China's car market cools amid intensifying competition.

The Great Tang represents BYD's most ambitious attempt to blend premium features with affordability, leveraging proprietary technology to capture market share from higher-priced rivals while testing its supply chain capabilities at scale.