At the recent Chengdu Auto Show, BYD released information about its military series vehicle, the Escort 07, which is positioned as a “large five-seater super hybrid SUV” targeting the SUV market priced between 220,000 and 280,000 yuan. The new car adopts the “Marine Aesthetics” design concept and is deeply integrated with BYD’s super hybrid technology, providing 100km and 200km pure electric range options, and offering plenty of space for a luxury and comfortable interior, accompanying young families for growth.
In fact, looking closely at the information and dimensions released for this product, it is easy to see similarities to another product BYD previously released, the Tang DM-i and P series hybrid flagship SUV under the Dynasty series. From external dimensions and internal wheelbase to pure electric range, and even exterior design, the Escort 07 and Tang DM series seem to share a lineage, but the only difference is the product positioning of the Escort 07, which is not a “low-end version” of the Tang DM series, but a “large five-seater super hybrid SUV”.
Thinking about it carefully, it seems that this is BYD’s first attempt at attacking the large five-seater SUV market. For many years, large five-seater SUVs have been dominated by luxury imported brands such as BBA, with a high-end and well-established brand image, almost leaving no room for newcomers to enter. Although domestic fuel brands such as WEY and Lynk & Co. have also made attempts to explore this high-end market segment, it seems that they have not achieved better results.
So why does BYD have the confidence to embark on this challenging road again? The core factor is that the current market is different. In today’s market, it is a market of New Energy vehicles, where those that acquire new energy will gain access to the world. Simply looking at two pictures, we can see how hot New Energy is now.
Two photos, one showing a deserted showroom of a mainstream joint venture brand for traditional fuel cars, while the other showing a crowded entrance to the new energy exhibition hall. This clearly indicates that new energy vehicles no longer need to be labeled as a trend, but have rather become a trend. BYD has accumulated extensive experience and closed-loop technology reserves in the field of new energy vehicles, not only by researching and developing core three-electric technologies, but also through its reputation in the industry.
However, when looking at BYD’s product line, it lacks attempts at the “large five-seater SUV,” with only a few versions released in the Tang DM series. Despite this, the Tang DM is still mainly a six-seater vehicle. Moving further down, there is the Song PLUS, whose car model space is relatively good compared to its peers, but still some distance away from a medium to large-sized car.
Therefore, the launch of the Guardian 07 can be seen as a product line upgrade for BYD, filling the gap in its product line and strengthening the connection between its products. While Qin PLUS has disrupted the Corolla brand, and the Han has become a best-selling luxury sedan, the launch of the Guardian 07 marks BYD’s entry into the traditional joint venture luxury brand market.
According to information released at the auto show, the impact of the Guardian 07 should be significant in terms of performance, scene, and cost-effectiveness. For performance, the Guardian 07 will be equipped with BYD’s super hybrid technology, providing two powertrain options: DM-i and DM-p. The car will use a high-efficiency 1.5Ti engine-specific to the insert-hybrid system, an EHS hybrid system, and a super hybrid-specific power-type blade battery for high safety and high strength. Its full electric drive and high efficiency in charging the engine with timely auxiliary driving meets the diverse travel needs of mainstream family users. Among them, the DM-p is the more powerful model, with acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in as fast as 4.7 seconds. Currently, there are very few traditional large five-seater SUVs that can reach within 4 seconds, such as the Audi Q5 or Q7, which do not have any models that can accelerate within 5 seconds.In daily commuting scenarios, the Guardian 07 can achieve almost zero cost of driving and an equivalent pure electric driving experience using its pure electric mode with a range of up to 200km. In long-distance or even ultra-long-distance travel experiences, with the support of its hybrid mode, the Guardian 07 can achieve a range of more than 1000km with full fuel and electricity, which is beyond the normal driving ability of most people. In this multi-scenario and different mode, the Guardian 07 has almost no peers among the current large five-seat SUVs.
In addition, the Guardian 07 has an impressive price-performance ratio compared to its competitors. According to BYD’s official announcement, its price range between 22,000 and 28,000 CNY is basically half the price of current large fuel SUVs. Even compared with the same level of hybrid SUVs backed by well-known brands, the Guardian 07 has far more product power and similar prices. For example, range and performance, which can be easily seen from the product configuration table.
Of course, more configuration details of the Guardian 07 have not yet been announced, such as the parameters of the infotainment system, driving assistance, and specific comfort configurations. However, based on BYD’s history of product configurations from Dolphin to Sea Lion, almost every product has become a hit. Therefore, we can believe that the Military series, a significant pillar of BYD’s Ocean Network, will also have super-strong product power.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.