CHINA: NIO Day Highlights, Yangwang U9 Extreme & Lotus Eletre PHEV | 22 Sep 2025

Welcome back to the podcast. The Neo Day was over the weekend. I'll give you the highlights.

The Yang Wang U9 Extreme just smashed a massive record and Lotus Electra goes plug-in hybrid.

Plus they tuned later in the show while telling you which Chinese are ranking in the top 10

searches from overseas buyers. Well, welcome to EV News China, the podcast dedicated to the world's

largest electrical vehicle market. Each day I bring in the latest headlines, insights and analysis

from the heart of China's booming EV industry and decode how the fast-moving developments

in the East are shaping the global EV landscape. Neo had their Neo Day over the weekend. On Saturday

they launched their third generation, all-new ES8 as they're calling it with official deliveries

starting on September 21st. Yes, that would be yesterday. The first one's handed over just

24 hours later by the founder William Lee. The model comes in three variants. Purchase it with

battery included and it starts at $406,800. That is $56,000. And with Neo's battery as a service

option, the upfront price goes down to $298,800. That's $41,200. So what does your $41,000

obviously with a monthly battery lease get you? Well, it gets you a big, big three-row vehicle,

5.28 metres long with a 3.13 metre wheelbase. Compared with the previous generation,

it is 18 centimetres or seven inches longer and the wheelbase up by six centimetres or two and a

half inches. So this vehicle is very much a full-size SUV. Inside the cockpit has a three-spoke

steering wheel and a horizontal central display that replaces the former vertical screen. Seat

pictures I've seen anyway. Front seats recline 180 degrees and can align with the second row

to form a flat, lounge-style surface. Neo says the all-new ES8 is the only SUV in the segment to

offer three zero-gravity seats, including the Queen's passenger seat and two independent

second-row chairs. These seats recline up to 151 degrees. The right-side second-row seat can slide

laterally, makes sense, by 15 centimetres or six inches. The second row features a ceiling-mounted

entertainment screen running on an independent Android system with voice controls and multi-screen

interaction with the front display. On-board amenities include the usual refrigerator completing

what Neo calls the three essentials, a sofa, a fridge, and a screen. Yeah, you can live inside

the Neo ES8. The front passenger seat back has a foldable table, second row has manual sunshades

and privacy glass, 12-volt outlets throughout the vehicle, 220-volt socket in the centre console,

and bidirectional AC port for vehicles to load six kilowatts of power. The all-new ES8 comes with

Neo's sensing suite called Aquila, comprising 31 perception components. So that's three LiDARs,

a forward-facing camera, 4D imaging radar, and all managed by Neo's in-house chip. The forward

LiDAR has a 500-metre or 1600-foot detection range, two wide-angle side LiDAR sensors covering 120

degrees, doing all the autonomy. This is an incredible vehicle. If I compare it to

a Range Rover, you're not far off. If I compare it to an Escalade, it's smaller, obviously, and

maybe not quite as luxurious. But look, the fit and finish of this thing looks very nice indeed,

for $41,000. It's once again utterly ridiculous the amount of car that you can get for that money.

And Chinese buyers agree with me because within 24 hours, they effectively sold out. Let me explain.

The outlet LatePost reporting that bookings for the ES8 surpassed the model's production cap

for the rest of the year. So they knew that they had production capacity of 40,000 models,

and I think within the first day, they hit that. People close to senior management telling LatePost

that lock-in orders received during the launch had exceeded their production cap. The actual

situation exceeds the figure as well by quite a lot. At a media Q&A the following day, so yesterday,

Sunday, founder and CEO William Lee said demand for the ES8 had surprised them. Strong than

expected. Doesn't surprise me because this is all of the vehicle. For about US$10,000 less than the

old one was selling for, it's a lot bigger. It's seriously better in every way. And buyers who bought

the old one, I don't know, last week or something, are probably going to be a bit miffed. This isn't

just a slightly better vehicle. This is kind of a reworking of it. Buyers, they say, predominantly

male. 70% of orders placed by men, mostly aged 30 to 50. Family users with a core group.

Configuration choices skewed heavily to the six-seater. 95% of the orders were for the six-seater,

two plus two plus two. The seven-seat model was barely ordered. 60% of customers chose the luxury

trim, 40% signature trim, and 90% went for battery as a service. Think about that. 90% of the 40,000

people who, what I know, the production cap was 40,000, and they said exceeded it by quite a number.

So who knows what the number is? But 90% of them went for battery swapping. Interesting, all right.

Talking about Neo Day, the 89 Horizon Edition. This is their executive flagship. Deliveries begin

by the end of the month. The Horizon Edition starts at $818,000. That's $115,000, including the battery

pack, and that is about 6% above the base starting price of the ET9 if you want the Horizon Edition.

Get it with a battery as a service plan, and it starts at $98,000 equivalent. That 102 kilowatt

hour battery pack is going to cost you $155, about 1200 RMB every single month. The Horizon Edition

has a two-tone blue and silver exterior, unique wheels, special badging, much better interior

materials. Neo First unveiled the ET9 at Neo Day last year and began deliveries in late March of

this year. The ET9 is one of the most expensive cars you can buy from a Chinese automaker.

Think Mercedes Maybach, and you can't go far wrong. Really special. Beautiful vehicle. Stunning.

Full panoramic, glass roof, incredible choice of materials, everything, just the wood and all

that. The inside looks amazing. Really, really nice vehicle. And not cheap, of course. Now,

let's talk about BYD setting a new world record. I don't know if this is actually an official

world record, because they recorded it and did the speed test. But either way, we'll take it.

BYD's Yang Wang, U9 Extreme just drove at 308 miles an hour. Actually, it was 308.34. That is 496.2

to kilometers an hour. How gutting. I mean, not really, because it's a new world record, but

you know, just over three kilometers an hour more and then have hit 500, which is

a psychological milestone, isn't it? And maybe they did, because they haven't that I've seen.

I've seen the video they put out today. A lot of speed runs. They'll mount GoPros all over the cars,

especially, you know, Nordschleife runs and stuff. And then a lot of car makers will post that online.

And you can watch it, maybe 10, 15 minutes long. It's the whole run, unedited in full.

Ney opened out a very highly edited video with the graphics on screen, saying 496 kilometers an

hour. So you take their word for it. It was done on the high speed oval in Germany at the Pappenberg

test track, making it the fastest production car in the world. So this just took the record of the

Bugatti Chiron Supersport 300 plus. That did 304 miles an hour. This Yang-Wang U9 308 miles an hour.

Something like the Rimats-Navera R, vast on a top speed of 268 miles an hour. The U9 Extreme

still uses four electric motors, still about 3,000 horsepower or 2,220 kilowatts.

The regular U9 is only 1,300 horsepower. And that's about 1,000 kilowatts. And so

the Extreme version that did this run on 20 inch wheels rather than the regular ones.

And it uses a square tire setup. They say that the regular U9 employs the 800 volt architecture,

but the Extreme version 1200 volt platform. But it's a production car. So they're going to go

into production now and make 30 of these. That mirrors and matches the number of the Bugatti

Chiron Supersport 300 pluses. Onboard footage of the run does show some incredible scenes.

I'll pop a link in the show notes. Warren Buffett has sold his entire stake in BYD.

Berkshire Hathaway cut its BYD holding to zero in the second quarter of this year,

down from $415 million at the end of last year, according to filings today. The disclosure came

as BYD's Hong Kong shares fell 3.4% on the news and Buffett first bought BYD shares back in September

2008. Nobody knew who BYD were then when Warren Buffett invested. A BYD share price has risen

4,500% since then. It's weakened slightly this year. Buffett's been reducing his position over

the last three years and other Western investors have also been selling as well. Let's talk a little

bit about the Lotus Electra. A performance version of the Lotus Electra with the plug-in hybrid

powertrain is now testing in China as they move towards hybrids. The plug-in hybrid will have a

900 volt high voltage system, 1100 kilometers or 685 miles of combined range. The Electra

is the full size electric SUV. This was introduced three years ago in 2022. Really special, quite a

vehicle, actually. The Electra was sold in a pure BEV layout or specification,

rather like all future Lotuses were going to be. It was their first mass-produced all-electric model.

In China, it started at 548,000 yuan, that's $77,000 US dollars equivalent. The BEV uses a 112

kilowatt-hour NMC battery. New electric models from Lotus underperformed in China and they say

underperformed internationally as well. Somebody at the end of my road has one outside,

occasionally. I'm not sure it's their car, but maybe it's a regular visitor of theirs.

Not my neighbor, so I don't really know them. Just say hello and smile to really

there are a few houses down, but boy, is that a beautiful vehicle when I see it parked in the

street. So, Lotus have had to work out what do we do? We're not selling enough vehicles.

Let's go plug-in hybrid. So, the exterior of these spy shots of the plug-in hybrid testing,

same as the BEV design. Floating roof split spoiler, flush door handles and camera-based

side view system. We'll see if those flush door handles make their way past the next set of China

regulations incoming. As a Geely-owned brand, Lotus has access to the horse powertrain stuff,

that's Geely Renault Aramco joined venture. We'll take a break, we'll come back. A bit more Lotus

stuff and MG4 in the news too. Stick around, back in a moment.

All right, welcome back to the podcast. Now, let's talk a little bit about Lotus updating

the EMEA and ELECTRA in PureBev forms, refreshing them for this year with updated lineups and

clearer equipment steps while retaining their established designs. The EMEA now starts at

538,000 yuan. The ELECTRA at 558,000 yuan. Three variants, 600, 600 SE or 900. So, the ELECTRA

carries forward its wide stance and some subtle styling tweaks on this. Got some new black badging

to have a look at all the versions right on 22 inch forged wheels. The braking moving from

six piston front calipers on the lower trims to 10 piston carbon ceramics on the 900 spec.

That is the ELECTRA that we're talking about. The entry model brings 12-way heated and ventilated

front seats, a 15-speaker KEF system. Higher trims add massage seats and active rear steering.

Dual motor all-wheel drive delivers 450 kilowatts and 0-100 kph, 62 miles an hour in 4.5 seconds.

Top spec on that, 675 kilowatts and 0-62 miles an hour in 2.95 seconds with a two-speed gearbox

on that one. The EMEA, on the other hand, does maintain its sleek four-door coupe proportions.

Very low vehicle, very sleek, very sexy, still 5.13 meters long. But now with the 21-inch wheels

and matching brake upgrade standard equipment, 15.1 inch OLED display, big augmented reality

head-up display. Performance mirrors the ELECTRA, by the way, with the 102 kWh battery

still purebev and some updates for this year as well. Big active rear spoiler that pops up on

that thing at high speed too. Let's talk about something not quite as pricey. In fact, nowhere

Let's talk about MG. A brand of SAIC motor has delivered over 10,000 units of the redesigned

MG4 as of today. The model went on sale 24 days after the model went on sale. They delivered

the first 10,000. MG4 was launched in China on August 29th, the opening day of the Chengdu Auto

The new MG4 is a lot softer than the outgoing styling, which was quite

Cooperish, quite hard lines and some would say perhaps aggressive styling. The new MG4,

softer, more friendly, more VW ID4-ish or ID3, that's a better comparison. This is

the updated, it looks quite a lot different to be honest with you than the outgoing MG4.

Still looks like a lovely car. It starts at $9,500. Wow. Now, one of my neighbors do have

one of these. He's a couple of doors up from me. He's got the orange one. I've never looked if it

is the high specification one, but it's a striking orange that the MG4 comes in.

This vehicle starts at 9,500 US dollars equivalent. A discounted entry price was

announced as $65,000 RMB. Now, a variant equipped with a semi-solid state battery,

which according to many reports, is the first mainstream model with a semi-solid state battery.

Well, that's listed at 102,800 RMB. That's $15,700 US dollars equivalent, but there are

some discounts to be had on that as well. Avatar has refreshed the 07. The 07 is an SUV

from Avatar, and again, another really good looking vehicle here, positioning it as China's

mid to upper EV choice, starting price of 220,000 yuan, about $32,000 US dollars before any incentives.

This one, again, a bit like Polestar have done, I think, at times where the lower door panels

are painted black, but the black kind of rises quite. I think it's gloss black on the pictures

I've seen here anyway, and it does make it look like it sits up a little bit more than it probably

does, but they try to make it look a little bit more of an SUV than maybe it is. But either way,

again, a really good looking vehicle. The model joins the 11 fastback, the 12 liftback, and the 06

sedan under the premium joint venture between Chang'an, CATL, and Huawei, which has been going

about three years now. Very distinctive two-tier lights on this, very sloped nose, retractable

handles, lidar, but quite slim lidar, to be honest with you, and very similar drag coefficient to

Tesla's Model Y, and yeah, bang up against that, I would say, measuring 4.8 meters long with a 2.94

wheelbase. So that's what kind of vehicle this is, but inside it is, once again,

man, it is just China with all the tech inside it. So a 35.4 inch 4K panoramic display, a 15.6

inch driver screen running Harmony OS, 25 speaker meridian auto system, yeah, gravity seats,

the refrigerator, it's got the lot. The Bev rear wheel drive version delivers 252 kilowatts

with dual motor all-wheel drive that goes to 440 kilowatts using an 82.2 kilowatt hour LFP pack

from CATL. There's an E-Roe version as well with a 52 kilowatt hour pack. These E-Roe's come with

massive batteries. Drive resistance features include Huawei ADS-4, navigate on autopilot

for highways and cities, autonomous parking, and with the revised suspension, the 07 competes

directly with some really premium rivals like the Li Auto L6 with the Aito M7, very comfortable

high-tech and long range as well. And finally, Chinese automakers are gaining strong momentum

in the United Kingdom overseas with the JQ7, the most searched four car on the platform

Auto Trader, which is new and used cars. That's the second month in a row. It's been the most

searched for new car. Isn't that incredible? The SUV was 5.8% of all September inquiries so far

outperforming European models, three Chinese brands now ranking Auto Trader's top 10 most

inquired about vehicles. There's the MG HS5, that was in fourth, BYD's CLU, an electric SUV

which is up against Tesla, also in eighth. Together the five largest Chinese brands

generated 11.2% of new car leads in September, triple the rate at the start of the year. The

JQ7 appeals to UK buyers with a plug-in hybrid option, starts at £30,000. Their hybrid system

prioritises what they say is electric driving for higher efficiency. Chinese market growth is

supported by favourable tariffs overseas in countries like the UK, and investment from

state-owned manufacturers as well, with financing partnerships through Aval in the UK and BMP Paribas,

expanding dealerships as well. Chinese brands are rapidly expanding and establishing themselves

as serious competitors through tech-driven models, competitive pricing and a very strategic

market position around that £30,000 price point. And that's your podcast for today.

Thank you very much for listening and I'll catch you on the next one.

CHINA: NIO Day Highlights, Yangwang U9 Extreme & Lotus Eletre PHEV | 22 Sep 2025

Eletre Lotus Electra

Yangwang Yang Wang U9

Nio ES8

ES8 Neo Es8

Cadillac Escalade

Chevrolet Volt

Volkswagen Id3

7 Jq7

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