Scoop! BYD Tang L Seven-Seater SUV Expected for Australia

BYD will soon bring a seven-seater SUV to Australia, a senior executive has confirmed to CarSauce.

David Smitherman, the CEO of EVDirect – the importer and distributor of BYD vehicles in Australia – said a seven-seater SUV will be part of an “onslaught” of new models coming to market locally.

While Mr Smitherman stopped short of naming the model outright, BYD currently only produces one SUV with seven seats – the Tang – with a new seven-seat Tang L soon to be launched.

Officials from the company previously ruled out the possibility of the current Tang being made in right-hand-drive, strongly suggesting the forthcoming Tang L is likely to be the model earmarked for Australian buyers.

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“We have a significant amount of new products [coming to Australia] – most of which we’ll share as it evolves,” Mr Smitherman told CarSauce.

“All you [need] to do is look at what’s in China, and ultimately the product there is what we want – seven-seater, for example, we want a seven-seat, we’ll have a seven-seat at some point… [a] seven-seat SUV.

“So that will be something for sure we bring to market, when we look at that opportunity,” he added.

The BYD Tang L was unveiled just days ago in China, where the model will offer three rows of seats, and a choice of either electric or plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrains.

The plug-in hybrid can be optioned with a single electric motor producing 200kW, or with dual electric motors, each making 200kW – and aided by a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine putting out 115kW.

Full specifications have yet to be announced, but Chinese media claims the Tang L PHEV offers between 135 and 165 kilometres of pure-electric driving range, before the petrol engine kicks in.

The electric Tang L can also be optioned with a single electric motor with 500kW, or dual electric motors making 230kW and 580kW – propelling the family SUV to 100km/h from a standstill in less than four seconds.

It’s believed the 580kW electric motor is the second most powerful unit to be found in a production car – after the Koenigsegg Gemera hypercar.

It’s not clear at this stage which powertrain options will be available to Australian buyers, or whether the Tang L name will be retained.

However, Mr Smitherman did suggest BYD would be bringing more PHEV models locally, telling CarSauce he sees “significant growth in that PHEV [market]”.