Chinese Supercar? It Might Come With Batteries Instead of Dragons
You always know when the market's going electric when Chinese brands start talking about supercars. Enter Fang Cheng Bao, BYD's burgeoning premium brand. They're already pushing out a few high-end SUVs, but now they've turned to the time-honored tradition of making low-slung, impractical sports cars to signal their arrival to the big leagues. Behold, the Fang Cheng Bao Super 9!
And I'll say this, the darn thing looks fast just sitting still. Sure, that's the point of a concept car, but there's some real pizzazz with those scissor doors, that fancy spoiler, and an interior that looks borrowed from a Gundam cockpit. All good supercar stuff. Plus, BYD brought in ex-Audi and Lamborghini designer Wolfgang Eggert for this thing, so they're not screwing around.
Now, here's the real eyebrow-raiser: unlike some other supercars, this one's going to rely on good ol' electricity. It's supposedly going to be a full BEV, not some fancy hybrid like their Bao 5 SUV. Let's hope they've figured out how to cram enough batteries in there for it to at least make it around a track without wheezing for a recharge.
Speaking of performance, numbers are still hazy, but this is what I've gathered: it's roughly 185 inches (4.7 meters) long, which is in line with your typical speedster. No official word on what kind of powertrain setup it's hauling, but BYD does like to go all-in on electrics. So expect multiple motors and some truly ludicrous horsepower figures. You hear that, Elon? The Chinese are gunning for you.
Now, about that price tag. Brace yourselves, because a fully kitted-out Super 9 is rumored to be in the $300,000 territory. That's... well, that's more than a Porsche 911, and around the price of your basic Ferrari. Could be interesting. At least they're showing ambition.
This wouldn’t be a proper car article without some skepticism on my part, though. It's one thing to show off a fancy concept car, it's another to actually bring it to market. Remember all those other Chinese supercars we never saw? Besides, what do Chinese brands know about crafting a true supercar experience? Do they have a backcountry backroad equivalent to the Nürburgring? Do they even like driving?
Well, if you’ve spent the last decade under the rock, these are exactly the questions you may have asked. China has emerged as a formidable power when it comes to electric vehicles. And not just the boring, daily commuter kind - oh no. Chinese automakers have been pushing the envelope when it comes to supercars, heck - they shredded that envelope to tiny pieces. There’s more Chinese EVs sporting 1,000+ horsepower outputs than you would ever suspect.
If they keep going like this, maybe one day we'll see a Chinese supercar actually turning heads in Monaco. In the meantime, I'm waiting for the Super 9 official specs and trying not to imagine myself behind that spaceship-looking steering wheel. It might just be electric, but I bet it’ll still be glorious.
