On August 14, BYD’s premium brand, Fang Cheng Bao, released official pictures of their first car – an electric SUV called Leopard 5 (Bao 5, 豹5). The new EV will launch at the Fang Cheng Bao Tech Conference on August 16 and will have a public debut a week later at the Chengdu Motor Show on August 25.
The Leopard 5 will launch as a range extender (EREV), with a BEV version to follow next year. As Fang Cheng Bao (FCB) already teased some details, we know the car will sit on BYD’s DM-o hybrid platform and have an electric motor with over 500 kW powering all wheels. Leopard 5 will also be fast: 0-100km/h acceleration is in 4 seconds. Battery capacity is yet to be announced, but the car will have a combined range of 1,200 km with a full tank and battery.
Leopard 5 adopts a new design language; FCB calls it “Leopard Power Aesthetics.” It is a boxy SUV about 5 meters long and comes with all the things you would expect from an off-roader: massive bumpers, roof rails, a continental wheel mounted on the back, and a large logo on the front grille. Above the front fender, you can also see a bulging sensor, which might be a Lidar, but we need to wait for confirmation. It is expected to use BYD’s Disus-P suspension system.
The interior hasn’t been revealed yet, but based on spy shots CarNewsChina obtained, it will feature two LCD screens, one for the instrument panel and one massive as a central control screen. Much stuff inside is wrapped in leather as BYD aims at the luxurious market with FCB. We can also see lots of physical buttons, which is not surprising. BYD is more traditional in interior design, unlike younger Chinese EV makers who often keep it clean and minimalistic inside, following Tesla style.
Fang Cheng Bao is positioned between Denza and Yangwang – two other premium brands from BYD. The Leopard 5 will cost about 400,000 – 600,000 yuan (55,300 – 83,000 USD). BYD badged cars are usually priced under 300,000 yuan, while more premium Denza is 300k – 400k yuan. Top premium YangWang starts at 1.89 million yuan (160k USD) for the U8 off-roader.
The FCB brand was launched in May in China. BYD spokesperson didn’t want to comment on a possible international launch.
Leopard 5 will compete in China with the Mercedes Benz G class, Great Wall Tank 500, and Toyota Prado. Like the YangWang U8 off-roader, it will launch as EREV, which means it will have an ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) that doesn’t power the wheels and works only as a generator for batteries.
This is a truly interesting car. Especially when it arrive as an EV. Possibly much cheaper than the G-wagen EV. Whenever that arrive. Magna, Austria will probably produce that car, and they are very busy with Fisker right now I guess.
Design is fun, special – the parenthesis between the doors only have a door handle – what can they be emphasizing/or leave out? ( – ) Was it because it hasn’t got hidden door handles?
Perhaps this special design make the car look a bit smaller/shorter? Anyway, credit to BYD for daring to do something a little different. Let’s hope the int’l bane will be ‘Leopard’.
Perhaps BYD will continue this animal line and buy Jaguar too (with LR), as they’ve done with the sea/fish and dynasty naming.
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PS! What if we help BYD a little with naming their models?
Instead of boring Atto 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 etc. international, they could name this line of their cars (after Seagull, Dolphin and Seal) the following – as Song L sounds silly, but Seabird, SeaEagle (Sea eagle), SeaLion or even Shark, would be better? :))
And as mentioned, big cats – like Leopard, Jaguar (Jaguar and LR really need modern electric drivetrains). But the strength of JLR is the conservative, independent design so they need to keep the center in UK – and perhaps still some production in Nitra, Slovakia – which is between Zilina and Bratislava. Although main production and parts in China. BTW, a lot of the KIA’s (Ceed’s) are produced in Zilina – north west in Slovakia. Why Kia is in SlovaKIA – it’s logical, right?
Salaries in Slovakia isn’t much higher than in China, or at least they didn’t use to be some years ago.
Jaguar/LR’s owner, is the Indian company Tata – and rumor’s are it’s up for sale – cheap, as they will not survive without someone like BYD with the modern EV technology.
Well, as BYD says (but not anymore, thanks) from last model out, Song L, “I must build my own dreams now…”
I think they dropped the Atto name actually. Seal was supposed to be Atto 4, Dolphin Atto 2 in Europe, but in the end both remained marine mammals there. Also in Latin America, they call it Yuan Plus instead of Atto 3.
und ich sollte eigentlich otto heissen………….
Hi Andreas, please use Enlgish in the comments. Thanks you! Otto 3 would be indeed a great name for Yuan Plus in Germany haha
Why name it after a dynasty of foreign occupation. Are we going to see a BYD Qing as well? I don’t think so.
It’s a little detail, but the rear door opens to the sidewalk – this is very inportant for road safety as most just open on the lft like the Landrover Defender (which most copy). Someone has realised this and made a point of priortising safety over market acceptance. Well done
Agree with you DesignerD.
On my old Disco 3 it opens the “brittish” way. Not practical on LHD car.
But do you think BYD will adjust this for the RHD market? They should, although LR never did.