There's a big SUV, and then there's this. At the 29th Chengdu International Auto Show, BYD pulled the wraps off the Fangchengbao Tai 9, the new flagship of its urban-focused Tai lineup, and it's genuinely hard to walk past. Tarantas.News got up close to the car on the show floor: a near-vertical face, a contrasting black roof, a lidar unit perched above the windshield, and 22-inch wheels wrapped in 275/45 R22 rubber. This isn't just another new model — it reads more like a statement.
The numbers speak for themselves: 5,270 mm long, 1,999 mm wide, and 1,850 or 1,880 mm tall depending on the configuration. The wheelbase runs 3,130 mm, and the cabin seats six. Curb weight tops out at 2,865–2,965 kg. Here's the twist — despite the sheer size, this isn't a body-on-frame off-roader. It rides on a unibody.
Under the hood sits a plug-in hybrid setup. A 1.5-liter turbo engine puts out 115 kW, and each axle gets its own electric motor rated at 200 kW. We won't add those three figures together and call it total output — BYD hasn't released that number yet, and we're not going to invent it for them. But the battery impresses without any embellishment needed: a 66.48 kWh pack delivers a claimed 310 km of range — on electricity alone, no fuel involved.
Maneuvering something this large on tight streets is no small task — and BYD clearly knows it. Hence the rear-wheel steering and the YunNian-P Ultra hydraulic suspension. There's also a retractable tow hitch, rated to pull up to 2,000 kg. Around back, a split tailgate opens in two independent sections, top and bottom. Nothing here feels like an afterthought.
Pricing for the Tai 9 remains under wraps for now. But the neighbors in Fangchengbao's lineup offer a reference point: the smaller Tai 7 starts at 179,800 yuan, while the Bao 8 starts at 379,800 yuan. That's not a price prediction for the Tai 9 itself — just a sense of the bracket the brand plays in.
No word yet on international availability. For now, this is primarily a China story — but one that sends a telling signal to the rest of the industry. Even when BYD sets out to build a genuinely massive six-seat SUV, it doesn't reach for a traditional body-on-frame chassis. Instead, it delivers a comfortable plug-in hybrid with a huge battery and enough technology to make peace with a 5.27-meter footprint. A paradox? Not quite — more like the new normal.
