Altior is Yangwang's 'vision of ultra luxury'
EV luxury has been hit and miss from the Europeans - so what about from the Chinese?
Never let it be said that the Chinese manufacturers don’t offer choice. Just a few days after confirming that the U9 Extreme will do well over 300mph, Yangwang now has a new car from the other end of the spectrum entirely: this is the Altior, a 5.6-metre long electric palace that looks like it could offer something new in the super luxury space. This is clearly a cut above something like an EQS or i7 (while being less offensive to look at, too), with more space than offered by a Rolls-Royce Spectre. And with BYD’s Blade battery for mighty range and lightning fast charging…
There’ll be no missing an Altior, that’s for sure. Partly because it’s huge (there’s a 3.5m wheelbase in that ginormous length), partly as it looks like a Phantom crossed with an old Flying Spur, and partly because of the bronze. See the design has been inspired by the ding, a Chinese ceremonial bronze vessel with a ‘grounded stance and substantial proportions’; these are said to have been a step off point for a car that ‘communicates dignity, assurance and presence.’ So while other colours are available, the bronze is where it’s at.
Whichever colour is specified, all Altiors get the ‘masterpiece of high jewellery’ that is the front grille. It’s polished to within an inch of its life so that it reacts to changing light, and when that light is gone the grille is illuminated. A dozen individual elements ‘rotate and illuminate sequentially from the outside towards the centre, creating a ceremonial welcome as the owner approaches.’
It’s equally lavish inside, as might be expected from a car ‘conceived as a higher expression of power.’ We’re talking wool carpets, hand polished air vents, even testing the metal switches and buttons with small hammers to check they sound and feel right. When those working on the Altior’s interior have been ‘splitting silk threads to create flowing cloud motifs’, it’s clear that no expense has been spared getting this together. There’s even more jewellery, this time in the form of 48 decorative pieces across 11 locations. With swathes of semi-aniline leather and acres of wood on top, Yangwang’s claim of a ‘private lounge’ atmosphere seems to hold up. Not least as it’s massive inside, with ample room for the massaging, reclining, fragranced seats to do their thing. The Dynaudio sound system has 39 speakers.
Underneath the Yangwang Altior is BYD’s e? Platform, using four electric motors for more precision metering of torque - it can adjust 100 times a second. And that’s probably the least interesting thing about it. The Altior can tank turn to benefit maneuverability, it can use DiSus body control to adjust the suspension for bumps up ahead, it can even float ‘if the vehicle accidentally enters water.’ You just never know when a body of water is going to sneak up on the road.
There’s even something called the 4 nm Xuanji A3 chip (it says here), which is basically the latest in assisted driving tech to give the chauffeur an easier time of it than ever. BYD reckons that the combination of chip and algorithms can deliver parking space to parking space nav assistance, from city streets to the motorway. It’ll probably get the Altior to a charger pretty quickly and accurately, too, although that won’t be needed much with more than 600 miles on the Chinese test. Exactly how fast the Blade battery will be replenished via the Flash charging is to be announced.
While it’s not clear yet whether the Yangwang will be offered here, there is a UK press release and confirmation of specs. The brown car here is a Bespoke Edition called Shanhe Dingyun, celebrating the ding once more with mountain and river influences. This will be a 399-unit limited edition, with Executive catering for less opulent tastes.
BYD Exec Vice Pres Stella Li said: “Altior brings together the depth of Chinese culture and our ambition to create something extraordinary for the people who will experience it. Our engineers, designers and craftspeople have worked together to give that heritage a contemporary expression through design, craftsmanship and technology… Altior represents our vision for the future of Chinese luxury.” Might this be the car to change attitudes around electric luxury saloons?
I'll never be in the market for such a car, but even in an imaginary world I wouldn't be buying one.
No matter how good it is or how luxurious, it will never have the status of the luxury European brands.
Nice try Yangwang, I'm sure there is a market for it somewhere.
No matter how good it is or how luxurious, it will never have the status of the luxury European brands.
Nice try Yangwang, I'm sure there is a market for it somewhere.
If it's anything like the rest of the output from China these days it'll be a very very good car, but where's the imagination? Surely there's an old Chinese brand of couch builders etc that could be transformed into an oriental Rolls Royce brand?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Underwater-Propeller-Prop...
People need to realise that the Chinese are a powerhouse with state backing and much lower manufacturing costs than Europe.
We are holding on to this impression that we make much better stuff, scoffing at stuff like this and believing that the Chinese can only make poor quality cracker novelties, sub standard electronics and other assorted cheap stuff, they can make all that but they are also homing in, and potentially surpassing western companies quality standards.
We need to get past the comedy X5 knock offs from 15/20 years ago as examples of Chinese cars, they have been producing credible stuff for a long time now, they have the battery tech sewn up as well.
Declaring it "junk" like King Kanute isnt working, everywhere you look is a Jaeecoo, Omoda, MG, BYD and others, they have just produced here, a Rolls Royce/Bentley facsimile and to be fair, it looks pretty high quality.
Its amazing how people are to discount the Chinese, look at how many UK university places are taken by Chinese Students, look at all the innovations and culture in Chinese history, then try to write their manufacturing output off as being the Temu version, I have a couple of Chinese watches off AliExpress, and they are closer to watches I paid 50 times more for than I care to admit.
They did produce cheap, low quality stuff for years and they can still do that, but if they can now knock out something like this now, maybe dont try to write them off, as they arent going away and their products will just keep improving, its a big, joined up world nowadays.
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