BYD’s Boxer Engine Shakes Up the EV Game: The Yangwang U7’s Dirty Secret

So BYD built a boxer engine. Just let that sink in.

And in doing so, they crashed a party that’s had only two attendees for decades: Porsche and Subaru. But here’s the rub—BYD isn’t chasing WRX rally heritage or the 911’s dynamic perfection. The Chinese behemoth, which just outpaced Tesla in Q4 EV sales, is using the flat-four layout for a reason so pragmatic it’s almost cynical.

Packaging.

That’s it. The whole story. They developed a 2.0-liter turbocharged boxer not to power the wheels, but to get a low hood line on a sedan. This engine is an E-REV component, a pure ICE generator. Its only job is to juice up the batteries that feed four electric motors. Look… this isn’t some newfangled idea; it’s the same basic principle as the old Chevy Volt, but scaled up to a ludicrous degree. The powertrain architecture is almost like a diesel-electric submarine from the 1930s—the engine makes electricity, the electricity turns the propellers (or in this case, the wheels). And it’s a brilliant, if brutally heavy, solution to the range anxiety problem that continues to plague the pure BEV market, especially as sales growth slows.

And because the engine isn’t mechanically linked to the wheels, all the typical NVH headaches of a boxer are mitigated. It can just hum along at its most efficient RPM. A clever bit of engineering, you have to admit.

But don’t mistake “generator” for “weak.” The total system output from those four motors is staggering. 1,287 horsepower. 1,239 lb-ft of torque. Numbers that would make a Lucid Air Sapphire sweat. This is hypercar territory, stuffed into a luxury sedan from a brand called Yangwang, which translates to “look up” or “admire.” (A bit on the nose, if you ask me, but okay.)

The car itself is the Yangwang U7. And it is a sedan. In a world drowning in crossovers, BYD drops this monster of a four-door in the Chinese market—a market that, to be fair, still has a serious appetite for traditional sedans. It’s aimed squarely at the S-Class and 7 Series crowd but feels more like a direct shot at Silicon Valley’s EV darlings.

The reality is, this car is an engineering contradiction. It’s a technological marvel wrapped in a dynamic sin. Tipping the scales at 6,823 pounds—heavier than a goddamn Chevy Suburban—is just unforgivable for a sedan. All the benefits of a low CoG from that boxer engine are fighting a battle against sheer, immovable mass. For crying out loud, that much weight is an environmental problem no matter what powertrain you’re using.

Yet it still rips. Does 0-62 mph in 2.9 seconds. A three-ton land yacht doing sub-3-second sprints… what a time to be alive. That’s the kind of brutal physics only possible with instant electric torque. And with a full battery and a full tank of gas, it’ll supposedly do over 600 miles. On battery alone, you’re looking at about 120 miles. That’s a genuinely useful EV range for daily driving, with the ICE generator completely eliminating range anxiety for road trips. A very, very compelling proposition.

So who is this for?

For a wealthy Chinese buyer, the U7 costs between 628,000 and 708,000 yuan. That’s roughly $88,000 to $100,000 USD. At that price point, you get performance that humiliates German rivals and a powertrain concept that is arguably more practical than a pure BEV. It’s the same company that gave us the U9 EV supercar, so they’re clearly not afraid to get weird. This whole thing feels like a flex—a declaration that BYD can and will out-engineer, out-power, and out-think anyone. Even if it means building a 7,000-pound sedan to prove it. A heavy, heavy sedan. Seriously.