Chinese carmaker BYD has reportedly registered a new trademark, "Yun-nian" (cars adorned with cloud patterns), according to several Chinese media outlets. Sources were cited as saying that Yun-nian is a whole new in-house technology for intelligent mobility.
Chinese media outlets including Sina, Gasgoo, and Autohome reported that Yun-nian could "transform luxury mobility" and might be revealed shortly. Clouds are the vehicles of gods and goddess in Chinese mythology.
Sina added that the carmaker has just become a new stakeholder in Baidu's spin-off chipmaker Kunlun Xin. It was previously reported that BYD will adopt Baidu's autonomous driving technology.
BYD just unveiled a new high-end luxury EV brand, "Yangwang," at the beginning of this year. The Yangwang U8 SUV has adopted an in-house quad-motor technology that can dynamically respond to emergency scenarios and further enhance driver safety in extreme conditions such as high speeds, floods, and icy roads.
There are also speculations on Chinese forums that Yun-nian could be an air suspension technology like Mercedes-Benz's Airmatic. And Yun-nian is expected to be adopted on Yangwang high-end models.
According to BYD's preliminary annual financial results for the year of 2022, the company reported a total revenue of CNY420 billion (US$61 billion) and net profit of CNY16-17 billion, attributing the significant growth to increasing sales and lower costs of raw materials of electric vehicles (EV).
According to the company's official monthly sales results, it sold nearly two million EVs (both BEV and PHEV) last year.
BYD's revenue for 2021 was CNY216.1 billion.
