BYD announced on Tuesday that it has started taking pre-orders for its new flagship grand tourer, the Denza Z9 GT, at a lower-than-expected price range of RMB 339,800-419,800 ($47,639-$58,855). The new vehicle is powered by three separate electric motors and comes with styling that has seen it compared to the Porsche Panamera. The electric shooting brake boasts the smallest turning radius of only 4.62 meters (15.2 feet) among D-class cars (generally with a length of 4.5-4.7 meters), meaning less steering effort when a driver makes a U-turn and more advantages during performance driving. BYD also said the Z9 GT performs better than any other competitor in its “moose test,” which involves driving the car fast around sharp turns as if avoiding an animal on the road at a top speed of 93.6 kilometers per hour (58.2 mph). Scheduled for launch in September, the plug-in hybrid version will have a driving range of 1,100 km on one full tank and charge and the all-electric version will manage 630 km. [TechNode reporting, BYD announcement, in Chinese]

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