CarBrandLogos archive · BYD · 2012

BYDQin

The car that turned BYD's dual-mode hybrid from an experiment into a business.

Photo: SAIC GM sucks · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in BYD history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the BYD Qin, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Named after the dynasty that first unified China, the Qin arrived in 2012 as the replacement for the F3DM and the start of BYD's Dynasty naming scheme. It kept the plug-in hybrid architecture of its predecessor and made it work commercially: a conventional-looking four-door saloon, competitively priced, that qualified for the licence plate exemptions granted to new-energy vehicles in cities where an ordinary plate could cost more than the car.

BYD Qin · El monty · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

That regulatory advantage, combined with genuinely low running costs, made the Qin BYD's first electrified volume seller. It was quick by the standards of its price, since the electric motor filled in the low-speed response, and Chinese buyers who had no interest in environmental arguments bought it for the plate and the fuel bills.

2019 BYD Qin · User3204 · CC BY-SA 4.0

In production

The car has since split into a family covering compact and mid-size classes, with both plug-in hybrid DM-i and fully electric EV versions. The Qin Plus DM-i, using the Blade battery and BYD's later dual-mode system, became one of the best-selling cars in China outright — priced against petrol saloons rather than against other hybrids, which is the shift that changed the market.

2019 BYD Qin · User3204 · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance