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Limited seats available, first come first served. Let us join together for the sustainable cause! [Click to Register] On October 13, BYD Company Limited (SZ: 002594)'s Dynasty Network launched its 9-series flagship sedan, the Da Han, with three pure electric variants. The price of the Da Han directly enters the territory of traditional luxury mid-to-large sedans such as the Audi A6L and BMW 5 Series. Currently, prices in the luxury fuel vehicle market continue to decline. The entry-level Audi A6L has a bare car price as low as 258,000 yuan under specific trade-in and installment conditions; the entry-level BMW 5 Series has a bare car transaction price of approximately 280,000 yuan; and some versions of the Mercedes-Benz E-Class have seen their final landed price drop below 300,000 yuan. A Chinese-brand pure electric sedan with D-segment body dimensions and a CLTC range of up to 1,008 kilometers, priced at 235,900 to 275,900 yuan, directly enters the core price territory of traditional BBA mid-to-large luxury sedans, creating cross-segment differentiated competition.
The Pricing Logic Behind the Da Han
Over the past few years, the pricing system of the mid-to-large sedan market has been relatively stable. Consumers with a budget of around 300,000 yuan had options roughly concentrated in entry-level or lower-trim models from BBA. Now this landscape is changing, driven by two factors: the continuous loosening of BBA's own pricing systems, and the密集 launch of high-end products from Chinese brands. Since 2026, the price competition among BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi has escalated from covert discounts at the dealer level to official adjustments of manufacturer suggested retail prices. BMW China adjusted the retail guide prices of 31 models at the beginning of the year, with 24 models seeing reductions of more than 10%. Mercedes-Benz followed suit, with mainstream models such as the C-Class and GLC seeing overall reductions of about 10%. Audi's price adjustments went deeper into its main models, with the A7L limited-time benefit price dropping to as low as 299,000 yuan. Sales pressure is the direct driver of price loosening. In the first half of the year, BMW's sales in China fell 20.4% year-on-year, Mercedes-Benz dropped 28%, and Audi declined 19%. The luxury car market share subsequently contracted, falling to 11.3% in January 2026. Average transaction prices have also continued to decline, with Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Audi's average transaction prices dropping to 375,800 yuan, 315,400 yuan, and 270,600 yuan respectively. The loosening of the pricing system reflects the转移 of pricing power in the luxury car market. In the fuel era, the moat of luxury brands was engines, transmissions, and chassis tuning, and brand premiums had a solid technical foundation. Entering the new energy era, consumers' evaluation dimensions for high-end cars have changed. The experience of smart cockpits, the capabilities of assisted driving, and the possibility of continuous OTA upgrades are becoming new value measurement standards. Automotive industry analyst Lin Shucheng told a reporter that the price adjustments of traditional luxury brands are not simply a response to sales pressure, but rather a misalignment between their product definition approaches and current consumer preferences in the Chinese market. In the past, consumers were willing to pay for brand history; now they care more about the iteration speed of smart cockpits and the actual performance of assisted driving. The speed of this preference shift may be faster than most joint venture brands expected. Lin Shucheng also noted that Chinese brands launching D-segment pure electric sedans in the 250,000 yuan market are essentially competing for the right to define high-end cars, rather than simply engaging in price competition. For Chinese brands, this is a valuable window of opportunity. In the domestic passenger car market of 300,000 yuan and above, the share of independent brands has climbed from 24.9% in 2023 to 40.97% in 2025, and is expected to exceed 50% in 2026. Among them, in the 200,000 to 300,000 yuan price range, domestic brands have a market share of 51.3%; in the 300,000 to 400,000 yuan range, the share is 54.7%. BYD's choice to launch a D-segment pure electric sedan in the 250,000 yuan range is precisely a judgment based on this market trend.
Accelerating Penetration in the High-End Pure Electric Market
The breakthrough of independent brands into the high-end segment largely relies on the rapid rise of the pure electric track. After the comprehensive phase-out of national subsidies, sales of plug-in hybrid and extended-range models came under pressure, but pure electric models grew against the trend, with their share soaring to 68%. It is worth noting that the fastest-growing segment is high-priced models. In the first half of the year, sales growth of new energy vehicles above 400,000 yuan approached 46%. In the SUV market above 400,000 yuan, six of the top ten best-selling models are domestic new energy vehicles. This means that pure electric models are upgrading from an alternative to a core option in the high-end market. This market shift is inseparable from the continuous filling of core shortcomings on the product side. Early pure electric penetration was concentrated in low-end commuter cars and the 300,000 yuan entry-level market, with high-end users' concerns about range and charging being the main obstacle. With increased battery capacity, optimized aerodynamics, and the popularization of high-voltage platforms, range mileage can now cover most usage scenarios. Taking the Da Han as an example, a 102.326 kWh battery pack combined with a drag coefficient of 0.197 gives the rear-wheel-drive version a range of 1,008 kilometers. In terms of charging speed, relying on a 1,000V high-voltage platform and megawatt-level fast charging technology, charging from 10% to 70% takes about 5 minutes. These parameters mean that the time cost of pure electric large sedans in long-distance travel scenarios is significantly decreasing. Breakthroughs in vehicle hardware also require supporting charging networks to keep pace. Data from the National Energy Administration shows that as of the end of June 2026, the total number of charging infrastructure nationwide reached 23.057 million units, with 5.009 million public charging facilities. However, the average power per public charging gun is about 49.35 kilowatts, which falls short of the demand for fast-charging models. However, policy has already begun to address this shortcoming. The "Three-Year Doubling Action Plan for Electric Vehicle Charging Facility Service Capacity (2025-2027)" proposes that by the end of 2027, cities will add 1.6 million DC charging guns, of which 100,000 will be high-power charging guns. At the same time, companies are also accelerating their layout. BYD Company Limited (SZ: 002594) completed its 10,000th fast-charging station in August and plans to build 20,000 by the end of the year, with 18,000 using a "station-in-station" model embedded in existing sites. Sinopec signed a cooperation agreement with BYD to install fast-charging piles into existing gas station networks, utilizing existing land and power access conditions, compressing the single-station renovation cycle to 7-15 days and reducing grid renovation costs by about 60% compared to traditional solutions. If this cooperation model can be replicated on a larger scale, the user experience of pure electric flagship sedans will further approach that of fuel vehicles. When discussing the charging issue, Lin Shucheng pointed out that the bottleneck of the high-end pure electric market is shifting from range mileage to consistency of charging experience. Differences in charging speeds among different brands and different stations will directly affect users' overall evaluation of pure electric flagships. He believes that the standardization and openness of charging networks may be more critical than simply increasing the number of charging piles. If users can obtain a stable fast-charging experience in different scenarios, the penetration speed of pure electric models in the high-end market may exceed expectations.
Returning to the Da Han Itself
The Da Han faces a market segment with continuously increasing competitive density. Within the past year, multiple flagship models such as the Zeekr 9X, the facelifted AITO M9, the Li Auto L9 Livis, and the NIO ES9 have been密集 launched, with price ranges covering the late 200,000 yuan segment to 700,000 yuan. Differentiation in the flagship market has already emerged. Models that combine brand power and product strength can maintain high pricing, while cost-performance-driven models need to find space in the 200,000 to 300,000 yuan range. BYD Company Limited (SZ: 002594)'s high-end brands (Fangchengbao, Denza, Yangwang) achieved a combined sales growth of 61% year-on-year in the first half of the year, with their share of total passenger vehicle sales rising to 12.8%. In Lin Shucheng's view, the Dynasty Network's own flagship product line still needs to establish sustainable market recognition in the price range above 250,000 yuan. The launch of the Da Han is intended to further push the Dynasty brand upward, starting from the Han family's cumulative base of over 1.09 million units, and converting user recognition in the mid-to-high-end sedan market into brand premium in the market above 250,000 yuan. "From the user accumulation of the Han family, the Dynasty Network already has a certain cognitive foundation in the mid-to-high-end sedan market. But to compete on the same stage with BBA and new forces in the price range above 250,000 yuan, a configuration list alone is probably not enough. The terminal insurance registration data and user reputation in the coming months will provide the answer," Lin Shucheng said.
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