BYD shares first official images of its ultra-affordable Yuan Up SUV

Just over a week after initially teasing a new compact SUV called the Yuan Up, Build Your Dreams (BYD) has posted several of the first official images of the new EV’s exterior. Expected to arrive priced in a range between $14,000-$20,000, the BYD Yuan Up has the making to be an ultra-affordable model in China, which could very well make its way over to other markets.

Despite snagging the EV sales crown from longtime leader Tesla in 2023, BYD remains a relatively unknown brand outside China. The auto conglomerate knows it has an image problem in Europe and North America and is trying to shift the narrative by exporting more enticing models to new markets.

With Hungary seemingly set as its future home to EV production for the European market, BYD appears determined to break through the ceiling into the executive suite currently occupied by legacy EU automakers like Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen while remaining price competitive with is easily its most prominent foe, Tesla.

Through its expansion efforts, BYD expects to garner at least $4 billion in net income this year and will lean heavily on a fresh lineup of EVs in markets worldwide, including Japan and Europe. One of those EVs BYD hopes will help get it to its target is the Yuan Up SUV – the first A0-class SUV on its e-Platform 3.0, which debuted in 2021 and supports other EVs under the brand, like the Dolphin.

In January, BYD posted a shadowy teaser image of the Yuan Up SUV, joining the Yuan Pro and Yuan Plus, also known as the Atto 3 in Europe. Today, the Chinese automaker has turned up the lighting and posted six additional images of the upcoming compact SUV – showcasing a rugged yet relatively straightforward exterior. Have a look.

BYD offers complete look at its new Yuan Up compact SUV

BYD posted the images above to its Weibo page earlier today with the following caption (translated from Chinese):

Both cute and cool, the attention-grabbing A0 Yuan friend Up is full of youth and vitality!​​​

Cute and cool to some, adequate and likely affordable to most, the Yuan Up features traditional SUV design elements in a compact footprint native to the A0 class. A0 generally refers to a wheelbase length between 2.2 and 2.5 meters (7.2-8.2 feet), and the Yuan Up should fit that category.

Although BYD has yet to disclose the dimensions of the new Yuan SUV, a regulatory filing in China stated it will arrive 4,310 mm long, 1,830 mm wide, and 1,675 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,620 mm – slightly larger than its Dolphin sibling on the same platform.

The filing also said the BYD Yuan Up will be powered by a single electric motor and will come available in three different versions, all of which will deliver 401 km (249 miles) of range, according to local media reports in China this week.

The reports also state that dealers will pay RMB 120,000 ($16,900), RMB 125,000 ($17,600), and RMB 130,000 ($18,300), respectively, for the three versions of the BYD Yuan SUV. Those dealer prices usually translate to slightly lower MSRPs for consumers once official MSRPs are locked in.

As such, we could see the Yuan Up debut in China for under $16,000 as initially anticipated. There has yet to be a word on where final pricing will land or if BYD plans to bring the new model to other markets outside of Europe, but at that price point, a compact SUV like the Yuan Up could fare well.