Luxury BYD electric SUV accidentally dropped over cliff by tow truck

The BYD YangWang U8 is a high-tech, high-end electric SUV for the Chinese market that uses four electric motors to deliver 820kW for a claimed three-second 0-100 km/h sprint time.

The circa $AU215,000 (¥1 million in China) YangWang U8 is the first model for BYD's new premium brand, and can perform a 360-degree 'tank turn', diagonally 'crab walk' and can even float or 'yacht' on water.

According to reports from social media, it can also survive an estimated 30-meter fall off a cliff relatively intact.

A post on social media platform X (formally known as Twitter) by Chinese-based automotive commentator Tycho de Feijter shows a stricken U8, lying on its roof on a rural road.

The luxury electric SUV is missing its rear left wheel, is leaking fluids and has significant panel damage, but is largely intact.

While there was initial speculation as to the cause of the crash, the social media post shows another image of a damaged flatbed truck and a driver looking over the edge of a railing and posits that the vehicle was not being driven, but transported and due to a mishap on a mountain road, has come off the truck and tumbled to the road below.

Another image shows a U8 mounted to the back of a similar tow truck and helps identify the problem.

The door of the truck notes a Tare weight of 1500kg and a Gross weight of 4495kg, hinting at a payload capability of 2995kg. According to regulatory specifications, the BYD YangWang U8 weighs 3460kg, a significant 465kg or 15 per cent beyond the truck's maximum load capacity. Furthermore, the large SUV can be seen travelling with its wheels beyond the rear axle of the truck, which would present load-balancing challenges.

Whatever the case, the big YangWang stood up reasonably well considering the incident.