HERE IN PART 2, WE CONTINUE OUR TOUR of the Mondial de l’Auto in Paris’s Porte de Versailles. We move from the practicality of a sub-€30K BEV to a contrasting plug-in SUV with glitz galore.
BYD Yangwang U8. Sam Meredith reports for CNBC, October 15, 2024, “Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD unveiled its Yangwang U8 model to a French audience for the first time.”
The BYD Yangwang U8 was first introduced last year in Guangzhou and is currently sold only in China. Image by CNBC.
Meredith continues, “The plug-in hybrid SUV is capable of ‘swimming’ for up to 30 minutes, parking sideways and making a complete turn on the spot, a BYD spokesperson told CNBC. BYD said the vehicle’s ability to float ‘is not just a gadget,’ adding that the feature could prove to be lifesaving in the event of flooding or an accident involving water.”
I recall an poorly-designed GPS that once sent its hapless (and alas witless) driver into a nearby canal.
Meredith adds, “The vehicle also comes with a built-in drone mounted on its roof, which BYD said could be deployed to show the driver what to expect further down the road.”
The Xpeng’s “Turing Chip.” Meredith describes, “China’s Xpeng on Monday launched the P7+ at the Paris Motor Show, an all-electric model that it hopes will cement its place in an era of autonomous driving and artificial intelligence-powered mobility. The P7+ is powered by Xpeng’s so-called ‘Turing chip,’ named after British scientist and mathematician Alan Turing. The chip is designed to operate in a number of the firm’s AI-driven vehicles, ranging from robots to flying cars, one of which was on display above the Xpeng stage.”
The Xpeng X2. Image from YouTube.
Sergi Galliano describes on YouTube, “The X2 is Xpeng’s first attempt at a flying vehicle and they delivered way better than expected! The X2 can take flight for around 35 minutes after a three-hour charge and is Xpeng’s first line of flying vehicles which will eventually lead to the world’s first flying car.”
I shudder to imagine the interaction of an XPeng X2 and a Yangwang U8 drone.
Life was surely a lot more simple—and less scary—when I got all those charming smiles with a filmless camera. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2024