BYD’s luxury-focused Yangwang brand is about to welcome a new model, and it’s poised to push the brand even further upmarket. Evidently, BYD is no longer satisfied with taking over the mass market, snatching sales from legacy rivals like Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Ford, and others, but it now also wants to convince Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Mercedes-Maybach shoppers to buy Chinese.

The new uber-luxury sedan has been previewed through images of a heavily disguised prototype at a mystery testing facility. Much like a Rolls-Royce Phantom, the new YangWang model is big and imposing, giving it an air of exclusivity most Chinese car manufacturers have so far failed to achieve.

Read: BYD Flash-Charged Its Luxury EV Over 350 Times In A Week Covering Nearly 19,000 Miles, Then Checked The Battery

Despite the camouflage, we can see the front end will feature a large upright grille and headlights similar in shape to YangWang’s current U8 SUV. Set within these headlights are cubed-shaped crystals, hinting at just how serious the brand is about making this sedan feel special, even by European standards.

Coach Doors, Just Like A Rolls-Royce

Viewed from the side, the car’s wheelbase appears absolutely massive, although it’s hard to say if it’ll be as long as the extended-wheelbase Rolls-Royce Phantom. Nevertheless, we can see it rocks one obvious Rolls-Royce-inspired feature, namely coach doors at the rear. It also features large windows behind the C-pillars, suggesting it will focus heavily on maximizing comfort and luxury in the second row.

The new YangWang also rocks a LiDAR sensor above the windshield and is expected to use the company’s advanced DiPilot 600 semi-autonomous driving system.

Unlike a Rolls-Royce Phantom, YangWang’s next luxury sedan is tipped to be sold exclusively as an EV. According to CarNewsChina, it could be one of the most advanced EVs on the market, potentially launching as BYD’s first model with solid-state batteries.

In September, BYD executive vice president Stella Li confirmed the brand would launch its first solid-state-battery-powered EV in 2027. Given that the technology has yet to be commercialized at scale and will therefore be quite expensive, debuting it in a flagship luxury model like this one makes perfect sense.

The ultra-luxurious U7 sedan from Yangwang has already been updated, barely a year after its market launch, and BYD is boasting about how comprehensive its testing regime has been and how well the new Blade Battery 2.0 performs.

To wrap up testing of the Yangwang U7, which has a starting price of around $95,400 in China, BYD says it randomly selected a U7 from one of its stores and spent 8 days, 19 hours, and 58 minutes driving it 18,600 miles (30,000 km), cruising at an eye-watering average speed of 149 mph (240 km/h). This test isn’t dissimilar to the tests Mercedes-AMG performed last year with its GT XX Concept. In that case, the German EV was driven 24,901 miles (40,075 km) in 7 days, 13 hours, and 24 minutes.

Read: Richard Hammond Once Crashed A Rimac, Now Trusted With BYD’s 2,978 HP Hypercar

BYD conducted the test in Nanning, where average daily temperatures exceeded 36°C (97°F) and relative humidity reached as high as 80 percent. The air conditioning was also set to 24°C (75°F) throughout the endurance run.

Beyond the test demonstrating how well the U7 can perform at high speeds and over long distances, BYD also wanted to ensure the battery would hold up. It says the U7 used was flash-charged more than 350 times. At the end of the test, the battery had retained 98.7 percent of its capacity.

This was far from the only test Yangwang conducted for the updated U7. It says it has been testing 758 vehicles across the country, cumulatively covering more than 6.5 million miles (10.49 million kilometers).

The Yangwang U7 was first unveiled in early 2024 and hit the Chinese market roughly 12 months ago. Less than six months after the first deliveries started, it was revealed that Yangwang was preparing to update it, equipping it with new 135.5 kWh and 150 kWh battery packs.

Both versions of the electric U7 have 644 hp electric motors at the front and rear axles, combining to deliver 1,287 hp. The 135.5 kWh version has a CLTC driving range of 497 miles (800 km), while the 150 kWh model can travel up to 625 miles (1,006 km) on a charge. A plug-in hybrid version with a 52.4 kWh battery and 1,341 hp is also available.

Sources: BYD, Carnewschina, Autohome