BYD Tang
Published · Researched 2026-09-21
Voice profile: the export-market pragmatist — has watched Chinese flagships arrive in Europe with big prices and thin networks, counts service bays before horsepower, dry about press hype.
BYD Tang review: a good seven-seater with a software problem and a pricing problem
The BYD Tang is for the European family buyer who needs seven electric seats and can't stretch to German money — and the 2024-upgraded car is the first version that makes the case. For everyone else, it's a lot of car with thin owner backup and software that never quite grew up. Verdict: buy the upgrade at a discount, or buy something with a bigger community.
What it is. BYD's flagship SUV: seven seats, dual motors, 517 hp, and — from the January 2024 upgrade — a 108 kWh Blade battery good for 530 km WLTP, 190 kW DC charging, and 0–100 km/h in 4.9 seconds. The launch cars (Norway 2021, wider Europe from late 2022 at €72,000 in Germany) made do with 86.4 kWh, 400 km of range, and a pokey 7 kW AC charger. In China there's also an all-new Tang L (April 2025) on BYD's 1000V Super e-Platform with up to 1,086 hp and a roof-mounted drone bay — China-only, with no announced European timeline.
What's genuinely good. Space per euro is the whole argument, and it's a real one. Seven usable seats in an electric SUV at this price had almost no competition when the Tang arrived — the Model Y's third row is a rumor by comparison. The upgraded car's 530 km range and 190 kW charging finally match the price tag's promises, and owners consistently praise the quiet, comfortable highway manners and the strong, silent acceleration. The Blade LFP battery has no documented failure pattern on the Tang, which counts as a genuine compliment for an early-adopter Chinese EV. And unlike most cars in this project, the Tang has a real European dealer network behind it — BYD's warranty is a real warranty, not an importer's handshake.
What's actually wrong. Start with the software, because owners never stop talking about it. Reports collected by Salzburger Nachrichten and others describe recurring infotainment and connectivity glitches, occasionally touching driving functions. A Tang L owner writing in March 2026 loved the car and still listed exaggerated remaining-range figures in the navigation, weak charging-integrated route planning, and management software that felt a generation behind Tesla's — plus screws that weren't tightened properly from the factory. A long-term Russian review praised the running costs but complained about cameras permanently caked in dirt and useful functions buried in the touchscreen. Chinese owner quotes aggregated by zeexauto add brake "clicking and clanging" noises at stops, a big turning radius, and a trunk that's "completely useless" with all seven seats up. Then 2026's headlines: a July case of a Tang EV's rear motor physically falling out of the car (single documented case, cause unknown), and a September state-ordered recall of 183,211 Qin and Tang vehicles built between 2014 and 2022 for a brake-pedal stopper that can crack and leave the brake lights stuck on — free fix at dealers. Finally the pricing: €72,000 put the launch car within shouting distance of established German premium rivals with century-old dealer networks, while offering 400 km of range and 7 kW AC. That's not a value proposition; that's a dare. Skip it if you want a settled ownership experience — the Tang's owner community in the West is thin enough that you'll be solving problems alone.
The social pulse. There barely is one, and that's the honest finding. Threads searches turn up marketplace ads, not owners. No accessible Facebook groups, nothing on Instagram. The Tang gets discussed as a product case study — reliability surveys, teardown channels, analyst notes — rather than as anyone's beloved car. Chinese-platform sentiment is inaccessible, so anyone claiming to know what a million Tang owners think is guessing. The enthusiasm that exists is press-shaped: "the car that brought seven electric seats to Europe."
The value call. New at €72,000, the launch car was overpriced against its spec sheet — the 2024 upgrade (108 kWh, 530 km, 190 kW DC, active dampers) is the only Tang that justifies flagship money, and even then only at a discount to list. The used market is where this car gets interesting: one 2024 car advertised in Uzbekistan at $34,500 with 28,000 km hints at the depreciation curve — but that's a single datapoint, not a market. Against a Kia EV9 — the other honest seven-seat electric SUV with a real network — the Tang wins on price only if the discount is serious. Nearest alternatives: Kia EV9 (the sane buy), used Tesla Model X (the brave buy), and in China, the Tang L (the futuristic buy, at 229,800–289,800 yuan). Sweet-spot year: 2024 — the upgraded 108 kWh car fixes the launch car's three real weaknesses (range, AC charging speed, DC charging speed). Skip 2021–2022 — first export-year cars, 400 km range, 7 kW AC, earliest software, and overlap with the brake-stopper recall population.
The Tang proved BYD could build a flagship. It also proved that in Europe, a flagship needs more than a spec sheet — it needs software that works and owners who'll vouch for it. The upgrade fixed the hardware. The rest is still pending.