Byd does not build many cars like the BYD Yuan: a 5-door crossover SUV with 1.5 L BYD473QE Inline-four engine, built from 2016 as electrification stopped being an experiment and the crossover took every market.
How it came about
The BYD Yuan (Chinese: 比亚迪元) is a subcompact SUV produced by Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD Auto, slotting below the BYD Song compact crossover. It is part of BYD's "Dynasty Series" of production vehicles, and is named after the Yuan dynasty. Released since March 2016, the BYD Yuan is currently available only as an all-electric vehicle, although previously a gasoline and a plug-in hybrid version were also offered. The gasoline version of BYD Yuan was sold since 2015 as the BYD S1 before being renamed and becoming part of the Yuan family. In some markets the S1 name was kept, and reused even for the all-electric version.
The BYD S2 is an all-electric subcompact crossover that is essentially a rebadged Yuan, shorter than the original Yuan and the S1, and was launched in 2019. The battery electric Yuan Plus variant was revealed in July 2021. It is marketed as the BYD Yuan Plus (or BYD Atto 3 in many markets). Compared to the first generation, it is classified as a compact crossover and features slightly larger dimensions, a more upmarket design, and BYD's proprietary blade battery. In March 2024, the second generation Yuan called the Yuan Up was launched, slotting under the Yuan Plus and continue to serve as BYD's subcompact crossover offering.
The hardware
Under the skin sits 1.5 L BYD473QE Inline-four engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The gearbox is a 5-speed manual / 6-speed DCT / CVT. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2520 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Family and rivals
Where it sits in Byd's history is not in doubt: the BYD S1 came before it; the BYD Yuan Up/Pro / Atto 2 / S1 Pro / BYD Yuan Plus / Atto 3 followed it. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Chevrolet Bolt, the Ferrari 488, the Tesla Model 3. Its Byd stablemates include the BYD 8TT and the BYD Atto 2.