Spy shots have emerged of a new BYD MPV which is believed to be part of the Dynasty series. Initial speculation was that the car was called the Tang Max but it is now believed to be called Zhou.
Currently very little is known about the car other than the pictures posted by a blogger named飓电工社 . It seems that the car is a medium or large size MPV with a body length likely to be more than 5 meters and with a wheelbase of over 3 meters and that it will be a 7-seater. Based on this Autohome are speculating that the MPV may share a platform with the Denza D9 and it can therefore be seen as a BYD branded version of that car. As such it would come in considerably cheaper with Autohome claiming prices are likely to start around 220-250,000 yuan (30,400 – 34,500 USD). For reference prices of the PHEV version of the Denza D9 start at 324,800 yuan (44,850 USD).
The Zhou is believed to be a PHEV only at this stage, built around BYD’s DM-I plugin hybrid system. Almost certainly it will use the latest fifth generation version of the system which recently debuted with the Qin L. This means that the model will have a 1.5 liter petrol engine and a single electric motor. It will of course use the BYD blade battery and it will use an E-CVT transmission.
Currently the car is heavily camouflaged and we can make out little from the spy shots other than that the car seem to have quite a lot of length after the C-pillar with what seems a very large window.
The new car seems some way off and it is highly unlikely that it will go on sale before the end of this year. We will bring you more information about the new MPV when we discover it.
Sources: Autohome, Fast Technology
