OpinionNo One Escapes the Chinese: BYD Storms the Ultra-Luxury Market of Rolls-Royce and Also Breaks the Speed Record
The Chinese offensive reaches ultra-luxury. In a macro event in Abu Dhabi, BYD presented a rival to Rolls-Royce and broke the world speed record with its Yangwang U9X.
If it seemed that some automotive segments such as the super-luxury cars or supercars were immune to the influx of Chinese brands in Europe, the BYD Group has shown otherwise. With a mega-event in the United Arab Emirates, the Chinese group launched, in a single weekend, a challenge to brands like Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Ferrari, or Lamborghini. Yes, they are also going after them.
BYD's Strike in Abu Dhabi: World Record and a Clone of Rolls-Royce
BYD's show in Abu Dhabi was spectacular. Four days of events (rumor has it that partly funded by local authorities) to celebrate the speed record of the Yangwang U9X achieved on the Dubai to Abu Dhabi highway (503.17 km/h recognized by the FIA and Guinness World Record) and to grandly present the Yangwang Altior, a compliant copy of the Rolls-Royce Ghost, but without the columns of the Parthenon on the front.
Spectacular stages at the foot of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai or at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Abu Dhabi, Fidel Castro-style speeches (for their length) by Stella Li, the global vice president of the company and the new "femme terrible" of the global automotive world, fireworks, mountains of canapés, 4x4 rides in the desert, gobsmacked journalists turned into necessary props, influencers from halfway around the world (200 flown in from China) complaining, rightly so, about the lack of opportunities to "create content" and an underlying message for good understanders: The tranquility in the ultra-luxury market is over.
Ultra-luxury, the Last Stronghold European Brands Thought They Were Safe
This market has always been a closed domain for European brands with a "heritage" of a century or a century plus. Rolls-Royce and Bentley, rescued from their debts and technological collapse by the "German enemies", Aston Martin and Maserati competing in the number of rescues throughout their history, Lamborghini, now also Germanized, Ferrari, which remains above good and evil, and a handful of artisans, called Pagani, Koenigsegg, Bugatti, or Rimac, have until now shared checks from magnates, sheikhs, YouTubers, and athletes with the "limited edition" that, from time to time, Mercedes (via Maybach or AMG), Porsche, or Alfa Romeo propose.
Well, that's over. With Yangwang's display of power in the Emirates, the global ultra-luxury market risks revolutionizing at the same level as the rest of the segments. BYD has proven it can make a Rolls for half the price with the Altior, a car that aside from the Spirit of Ecstasy, would easily pass as being born in Goodwood.
Sales Are Already Plummeting in China: Rolls, Bentley, and Aston Martin
"It's a Rolls from Temu," some will say. "Who wants a Rolls wants a Rolls and doesn't care about paying double," others will conclude. Okay, but so far, the declines this year in China for Rolls, Bentley, and Aston Martin are already at 30%. Is there a crisis in the Chinese market? Agreed, but there are also increasing sales of super-luxury models from Hongqi, Maextro (a brand resulting from the alliance of Huawei and JAC that will also include Maserati to continue having something to sell outside China), NIO, HiPhi, and Li Auto.
And the Italians aren't faring better, quite the opposite. Ferrari may have already sold all the Luce anticipated in China, but so far this year has sold half the cars compared to 2025. Lamborghini is facing over 60% decline and Maserati... has convinced 80% fewer Chinese customers despite constant price cuts to liquidate stock.
From the Gulf to Europe: The Next Destination for Chinese Luxury Liners
Perhaps the high-ranking Japanese executives will continue with their Century, now that they are a proprietary brand with cars imitating Rolls, by the way, and the presidents of the German multinationals will continue signing checks for a long S-Class, if the crisis doesn't prevent it, but what about the rest? If we go by the number of Chinese cars that are invading Emirati avenues, the Gulf will be, along with China itself, the first destination for these new luxury liners arriving from the East. And then... Europe.
They Are All Electric: Up to 1,000 km of Range and More Than 1,500 HP
These liners, by the way, have something in common with most of the cars arriving from China. They are electric. And yes, it's difficult for their traditional users to prefer an electric car over a gasoline car in this segment, but these machines, with battles of three and a half meters, can accommodate batteries capable of achieving between 800 and 1,000 km of range, and on their platforms hide up to four electric motors for which surpassing 1,500 HP is common practice, and electricity guarantees silence.
And for supercars like the Yangwang that has broken the speed record, the 2,000 and even 3,000 HP provided by their electric motors are a century ahead of Herr Piech's delusions, rest in peace, obsessed with 1,000 HP and 400 km/h of his W16. The U9X has broken two records in Abu Dhabi; the fastest electric car and the fastest car period. It's an absurd detail, because from now on, both records will go hand in hand until cars that run on flow capacitors are invented. They will come. And they will be Chinese.
* This news is an AI translation of the original content. Motenic.com is part of Motor.es.