Etiqueta: BYD Qin

The year is 2011, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was asked in a Bloomberg interview whether Chinese automaker BYD Auto posed a real competitive threat to Tesla. Musk cheekily laughed and said, "Have you seen their car? I don’t think they have a great product… I don’t think the technology is very strong."

Updated 2026 BYD Qin Plus DM-i and Qin L DM-i entered the Chinese market as affordable PHEV sedans with up to 210 km of electric range.

BYD will launch the 2026 Qin L DM-i and Qin Plus DM-i in China on January 8.

For the full year 2025, the Song series sold 788,003 units, making it BYD's best-selling model.

Starshine 6 competes with BYD Qin Plus, delivering a spacious interior and practical rear seating for families.

While much of the news this week has been discouraging, recent reports about BYD’s OTA updates have provided something positive to think about. In particular, the OTA updates have focused on BYD’s DM-i 5.0 (5th generation PHEV platform), which started rolling out across models in China last year. Consumers in China are getting more battery-only range and better fuel economy once the battery is depleted than when they bought their vehicles. While some news has been worse than expected, it is good to see something ending up better than expected. That is not only better for consumers, but also better for the CO2 emissions and the environment.