ev.news China: Freelander 8 Launches, BYD Sealion 08 Gets Early Sales & 600 NEV Models Released This Year | 04 Sep 2026

0:00Welcome back to the podcast on EV News, China, the free lander, eight launchers, BYDC Lion 08, gets off to an early start, well, and 600 EV models have been released so far this year. Plus, they tuned later in the show while telling you how many EVs China is importing from overseas. Well, welcome back to EV News China, the podcast dedicated to the world's largest EV market. Every day I bring you the latest headlines, insights and analysis from the heart of China's booming EV industry and decode how fast-moving developments in the East are shaping the global EV landscape. While Cherry and Jackie were land Rover JLR have launched the free lander eight in China, placing the revived brand's first model in the luxury e-rev segment, at $290,000, that is $42,750 after incentives. The entry price is actually $6,000

1:00below the around £50,000 pre-sale, a $50,000 pre-sale price announcement on August 21st. It's a common tactic that they see over and over again in China. The pre-sale comes out, people register their interest or even order the vehicle and then when sales begin, they come in with sometimes a slightly lower number, but that's huge, $6,000 less as a percentage of a vehicle, the cost of $43,000, that's a big chunk difference. Obviously it's done to delight people and reinforce. They made the right decision and attract new people. The five seat and the six seat versions, that will be the two plus two plus two, come in three different trims that do sound like mobile phones, pro max and max plus. Every version has a 1.5 liter engine, a dual motor all-wheel drive system and a 60 kilowatt hour pack from CATL that's not LFP, it's a turn, a turnery system. Combined output is 818 horsepower. This thing probably could climb mountains, not that anybody

2:04will do with them, but it looks the part as it's a product from Jackie Aland Rover and has a battery only range. At least on the China cycle of 310 kilometers, Freelander also fits every version of the vehicle with an 800 volt 6C high voltage e-reve platform where the sea rate is a measure of how fast a battery charges and discharges and well if you need to the podcast, I will put that in context. A 6C battery is just about the best out there. It means a 20 to 80 charge in 12 minutes. We always prefer a 10 to 80, if there's not a 10 to 80 percent charge, the car makers are always fudging the numbers aren't they just to get a nice convenient number. However, it is getting air suspension, it's getting continuously variable dampers, it's getting 10 degree plus minus rear wheel steering, all as standard. The max and max plus get front mechanical diff locks and rear electronic limited slip differentials. The entry level pro trim

3:08uses a digital virtual center lock, again all for off-road capability for a vehicle that does look very much like a Land Rover Defender, but no, this is the Freelander, not a nameplate anymore, it's a brand and all versions have Huawei's Tian Kun ADS 5 driver assistance system and the max plus trim gets ADS 5 Ultra with dual LIDAR, really good looking vehicle. Not that China is short at the minute of four by four off-roaders, they've gone through the SUV phase and the three row phase and the second half of 2026 or either this year so far really has been a lot of the brands expanding into this segment and a lot of vehicles are really really capable as well. Let's move on. BYD's C-Lion 08 or the C-Lion 08 had 12,000 orders in the first 24 hours of launch, described as firm orders as well so this isn't a pre-sale expression of interest kind of thing

4:13according to Zhang Zhou, general manager, a BYD's ocean series, every version has BYD's gods iB ADS assistance and BYD describes the equipment as a dual safeguard consisting of automated parking and urban navigation. BYD's can also option the DSA intelligent body control system, dual chain barrage suspension and road preview capability to smooth out the bumps before you even hit them and rear wheel steering and all of this on a vehicle that starts at $33,800 USD equivalent. It's a big SUV, if I hadn't mentioned that already I've talked about the C-Lion 08 a fair bit lately but it is a big three row SUV six seat versions use two second row captains chairs with armrests leg supports full electric adjustment large roof mounted screen comes down for the rear passengers and so BYD I think because they put out a big PR graphic with the number 12,000 on it

5:16I think they seem pretty happy with that number in the first 24 hours all the pictures they've released having the light colored interior which does make it look honestly very very premium that big screen that folds down behind the first row so if you've got your kids in the back in the second row they can both watch the same thing on a massive screen that folds down and plug in hybrid versions have the 1.5 liter engine with either a single or dual motor system 400 kilometers of China cycle range they give the big number 1650 kilometers of total range and with the full tank and a full charge of course the pure bed versions of this although 900 kilometers depending on configuration 115 kilowatt hour pack on this so this is the real deal big specs on this big SUV and again it starts at 33,000 US dollars equivalent mega luxury for not too much money and actually

6:16what's really nice about the the styling of this is they have actually made I think from the rear end it look kind of distinctive the same way that let me try and describe that so if you know the Hyundai Ionic 9 and the Kia EV9 they both look different but they've both got their own kind of styling language and they've done something more interesting than just a big slab of SUV well I think this this does it as well it has hints of maybe the rear end of a of a lucid air maybe but in SUV form maybe lucid gravity then if you want to say that so designed really nicely I think if you put this on sale immediately outside of China it would do pretty well okay let's move on C80L's chairman has cited 7.4 million Chinese EV sales in the first half of 2026 C80L of course the world's biggest supplier of batteries to electric vehicles its chairman zen you Chan said that more than 600 new EV models have reached the Chinese market in the first half of this year

7:21and look we in September already so this is already outdated in a video address to the 2026 world power battery conference mr zen said that the launches average three models per day he said competition in the EV market is focused on development speed vehicle specifications and price development cycles are tightening that pace presents a constraint rather than a benefit mr zen said battery power manufacturing or power battery manufacturing I should say requires extraordinarily high precision and a low tolerance for errors in mass production he said minor issues get magnified many times over and the mismatch is plain enough China's manufacturers are introducing three new models a day but battery production doesn't permit improvisation once you move into volume work faster development may sharpen competition over the specs that the Chinese car makers are throwing at their cars at the lower prices that they come with but it doesn't alter the

8:26precision required to make the batteries that has to be however the cadence works of making a car the battery is the bit that can't possibly go wrong you can't possibly recall all your cars and although it has happened and does happen CATL so that's the bit that we cannot get wrong mr zen said every production process and parameter is strictly controlled from design potential anomalies are identified way in advance and is called for zero tolerance of quality leaves the industry with an unresolved pressure shorter development cycles must coexist with production processes which are of the very best quality so he is very much I would say echoing what is coming out of Beijing at the moment and central China are really talking about Chinese quality so they've talked about innovation for a long time and now I've noticed that the messaging coming out of China's authorities has shifted subtly over the last few months and I hear a lot of statements and

9:29here the chairman of CATL is echoing that it is really about the focus on quality of Chinese EVs now let's move on cherry plans to begin real world testing of its solid state batteries in 2027 when it's claim of up to 1500 kilometers on a single battery electric vehicle charge has to face verification chairman Yin Tong Yu disclose the schedule at the world power battery conference that I just mentioned in Sichuan yesterday the company plans to invest 10 billion you one that is 1.5 billion US dollars in solid state battery development development mr Yin said cherry has achieved solid state energy density of 400 watt hours per kilogram its Rhino S solid state battery line was announced earlier this year and that has energy densities planned from 400 to 600 watt hours per kilogram the station wagon called the exeed

10:31ES8 is planned as the first vehicle to use the new Rhino S solid state battery for road testing at least cherry teased the model last year also plans to begin installing Rhino what they call solid liquid aka semi solid state battery packs they'll start making those this year cherry officials claim battery electric vehicles using the new batteries could do that 1500 kilometer number on a single charge mr Yin also said that cherry will not install a technical solution in its vehicles if it's not safe enough and that the same safety standards applies to any future technology the range claim is therefore paired with a condition that remains to be tested in vehicles but everyone's having a go to be honest with you cherry not the only ones they're joining gochuan high tech farasis on solid state ca lb you have an apop at it ca tl b wide glee all announcing trial production or real world testing in a road going vehicle of true solid state not a semi solid

11:36battery not a semi liquid electrolyte sometime in 2027 all right we'll take a break we'll come back we'll talk Audi SAIC Xiaomi and more stick around back in a moment all right welcome back to the podcast let's get into some numbers China's passenger EV retail sales were 1.069 million last month in august but that's down 4% from the same month last year according to preliminary data from the cpca sales rose 12% from july but august was down on the same time last year representing the eighth consecutive month of year on year declines it starts to become noticeable that retail in china is in decline which is why everyone's exporting like mad to the west EVs represented 65.7% of retail sales so when i say retail i mean so wholesale number is what they make in the factory in sell and export ship on put on ships and also sell in china

12:38retail is inside china's borders and so retail sales south 65.7% that's up from 65.1 in july total passenger vehicles were down but EVs weren't down as much which is why the share of vehicle is higher and which is why china is releasing some plans i talked about earlier in the week about how to increase consumption within the automobile industry because it is a concern how china is buying generally fewer and fewer automobiles not just EVs passenger EV whole sales of course move the other way i've told you this recently that was 1.5 million units in august up 16% year on year up 4% month on month and the cpca said clusters of new models launched around the Chengdu Auto Show and very strong demand for export has been helping the total number the association said cautious consumer confidence and lots of sentiment around wait and see around major purchases

13:41in china is holding back the car market flooding in some regions of course would have reduced showroom traffic and vehicle sales while few new small EV models entered the market in august a little bigger cars as well trade in subsidy funding that's all pretty ample local policies are still in place back to school demand is normally supporting sales in late augusts according to the cpca retail sales also rose late in the month which might show some pent up demand people holding off some summer spending interesting now Audi and SAIC have established a new Shanghai R&D center for the Audi brand not Audi Audi four rings Audi but Audi no four rings but capital a UDI because that's different to Audi Audi's not Audi in china and well there is Audi but there's also Audi i'm glad they made that really easy for a podcaster it's different if i was writing this because you can obviously see it's a UDI brand and so there's four new models

14:45planned on their new digitized platform coming in 2028 for the first one the Audi innovation technology center expands a partnership that's already included joint production and vehicle launches that's gone well and not well sharply different results the e5 sport back and the e7 x they entered the market in the last year data recorded over 3000 e7 x is being delivered in July alone the e5 sport back 173 in total oh it's not great the e7 x the one that is selling well is one of the three best selling all electric SUVs in the 45,000 dollar price band those figures give local development a practical importance Audi is adjusting their strategies in china to be more intelligent more connected more digital more EV now this is huge news and it was one of the big

15:46stories on our sister podcast EV news daily are the main podcast if you like kind of where they started Xiaomi has confirmed European entry 2027 starting with eight agreements in Germany with dealers these are memorandum of understandings they're not hard and fast contracts from what I gather with eight German dealer groups as they enter Germany next year and other European markets as well Germany will be the starting point for the Xiaomi vehicles which have gone down so well in china in the last two years 700,000 of them sold the sju 7 su 7 the the why u7 the u7 incredible vehicles for many people they won't be able to get them quick enough in Europe the deals were shown off at the ifa Berlin show that's a tech show and they will help create Xiaomi's European retail sales and after sales presence for 2027 starting in Germany and moving

16:47elsewhere in Europe a huge really huge announcement because it really just give us some more confidence and concrete information now horse powertrain that's a joint venture between glee and reno unveiling their new plug in hybrid system it's already going in a vehicle actually by the way they're unveiling it because the vehicle's been unveiled it's built for off road work this is their new plug in hybrid system and it's going to turn up in the glee galaxy cruiser 700 now that vehicle again this is an off road four by four was just profiled on the inside china auto channel with my friend mark now mark rainford cropped up on today's batteries included podcast which is the show that i do with the gang in america with tom and dom and and kyle when he's not galavanting and reviewing cars and so that's a live youtube show that we do a friday mornings us time friday after names european time and mark joined us today on the podcast

17:51and talked about his review of the glee galaxy cruiser which is barreling towards 100,000 views on youtube and this is this is a vehicle that will weighed 800 millimeters it'll turn into a boat you can you can dunk the thing for two hours in the water it'll climb 45 degrees all this is only in this video go and watch it inside china auto brilliant channel i'm sure you've seen mark and oh my gosh this thing's incredible and this is the powertrain inside it and so in the galaxy cruiser 700 uses a a joins a rear motor to create a four wheel drive an electric four wheel drive configuration has 13 integrated elements the three speed dedicated hybrid transmission it's 110 kilowatt motor to start the combustion engine and generate electricity it's a 230 kilowatt motor to provide traction and drive one of the axles through a single speed reduction gear it's got a three speed transmission that will connect the combustion engine and supports pure electric series

18:55hybrid or parallel hybrid modes horse intends it to operate in series hybrid during lower speeds so maybe urban driving like an e-rev arrangement so the engine never clutches to the axle so it's generator of electricity and the battery the motors the electric motors move the vehicle but at higher speeds it's intended to be a parallel hybrid system and directly drive the wheels it will spin up to 20,000 rpm for higher vehicle speeds and this is the vehicle that they're talking about it being in let's move on zekers 2027 model year 7x gets a new 85 kilowatt hour battery pack it'll replace the entry level 75 kilowatt hour pack and it now rows the gap because there is a bigger pack of 103 kilowatt hours they call it the long range version the updated 7x enters China's domestic market sometime in q4 and to that 85 kilowatt hour version will provide a nice bump on range maybe 700 kilometers CLTC which will put the the SUV the Glee produced SUV in competition with

20:00cars like the leo also i6 and a similar battery size as well it's been lagging a little bit right finally this is fascinating China how many EVs did China import in July this year well new cpco data out today shows China imported 125 EVs in total the world's biggest car market does not want cars that it does not make itself it's total equated to four bev passenger cars imported per day it was 99% below what used to be imported back in 2023 battery electric imports reached 30,000 vehicles that year and has been falling and falling and falling ever since the same with plug in hybrids that peak that 25 24 and a half thousand vehicles in 2022 and that keeps falling as well the total includes battery electric and plug in hybrid vehicles for this year so far

21:03that total is less than 3000 for the entire year so far plug in hybrid and bev less than 3000 vehicles have entered the country there's ever more evidence that you need that than we didn't make it so we don't want it the Chinese consumers are rightly proud of their domestic car industry and they are voting with their wallets they do not want anyone else making the bev's and the plug in hybrids that they drive and that's your podcast for today and for the week as well by the way we do this one Monday to Friday so have a wonderful weekend catch you next week bye