Senior managers Australia’s World have let slip a new off-roader being tested in Queensland – and signs point to a new one Hyundai Santa Fe Competitors.
At a media event this week, Chief Operating Officer Stephen Collins announced the company now has five full-time engineers in Australia, working closely with dozens of engineers from BYD’s headquarters in China.
“I actually have my team in Queensland and am doing a local evaluation with some of the R&D managers of some core projects,” said Chief Product Officer Sajid Hasan Daily Sparkz.
While the executive team did not specify which model was being tested, Mr. Hasan confirmed that it was a plug-in hybrid off-road vehicle or an electric vehicle with a range-extending gasoline engine.
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“They’re tuning the suspension, the electric motor power, the petrol engine power, the acceleration response, the traction control system – there’s sort of an off-road exercise going on at the moment – and that tuning is being used on the Australian vehicles. So it’s happening and it’s very exciting,” he said.
A strong possibility is that the vehicle is the Fangchengbao Ti7, which could launch in Australia as a five-seat rival to the Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento and Toyota Kluger – probably under BYD’s premium Denza brand.
Given that the Denza range currently consists of B5 and B8, it is possible that the Ti7 will be renamed B7 to maintain consistency.
The Ti7 is available with either one or two electric motors and has a 26.6 kWh or 35.6 kWh battery for an electric range of between 100 and 200 km. As a range extender, it uses a 1.5-liter turbo four-cylinder gasoline engine, which theoretically allows the vehicle to travel up to 1,300 km without stopping.
Although the Ti7 has a monocoque chassis – rather than a ladder frame chassis as is common in off-road vehicles – it has adaptive suspension, a fording depth of 600mm and approach and departure angles of 24 and 25 degrees respectively.
“(Our engineer) called me… to give me an update and he just said how fantastic it was because they had the laptops out doing live updates,” Mr Hasan said.
“He just said ‘Wow, what we drove yesterday compared to today – the same car – but after we made these updates it was dramatically different’ and off he went.”
BYD has previously hinted at a larger, robust small car that will sit above it Shark 6 is in development but has not yet been discovered in the wild.
With the B5 and B8 plug-in hybrid off-roaders already sold under the Denza brand in Australia, and the Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute sold by BYD remaining, only two of the company’s range-extender electric vehicles remain available for local sale: the Fangchengbao Ti7 and the Yangwang U8.
Given that prototype vehicles have been spotted testing across Australia over the past 12 months, it’s possible that the mystery model is the Yangwang U8 – a luxury off-road electric car that costs from around A$250,000 in China.
The U8 is equipped with four electric motors that produce a total of 880kW and 1280Nm, giving the vehicle a claimed 0-100km/h sprint time of just 3.6 seconds – despite weighing 3460kg.
The 49 kWh “Blade” battery provides an electric range of up to 180 kilometers, while a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine enables a combined range of more than 1,000 kilometers.
But the real highlight of the Yangwang U8 is its ability to traverse deep water for up to 30 minutes.
However, senior officials have previously downplayed the likelihood of the Yangwang U8 joining the Australian lineup, saying the luxury SUV is still several years away.
According to comments from January 2025, the U8 would not go on sale until the Denza brand was well established in this market.
All of this strongly suggests that the Fangchengbao Ti7 is currently in use in Queensland and is receiving local tuning ahead of its launch under the Denza brand in 2026.
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