(Yicai Global) Nov. 9 -- Chinese new energy vehicle maker BYD has announced it will launch a new high-end car brand Yangwang.

The Shenzhen-based company did not disclose any further details about the luxury brand in the statement published yesterday, but sources said it will be released in the first quarter of next year.

The NEVs under Yangwang will be priced between CNY800,000 and CNY1.5 million (USD110,310 and USD206,830), with the exact cost of the models to be released once they hit the market, a BYD insider told Yicai Global, adding that a new independent team will oversee the brand's products, sales service network, and operations.

BYD sold 201,000 NEVs in September and a record high of over 217,800 units in October, it said. With China's NEV market rapidly expanding, the carmaker's new energy passenger vehicle sales soared 239 percent to nearly 1.4 million units in the first 10 months from a year earlier.

In recent years, BYD has been exploring the high-end field. The release of the Han model under the Dynasty series in 2021 became an important turning point in the firm's strategy. The average price of cars sold by BYD in the first half jumped to CNY170,000 from CNY100,000 before last year, according to its semi-annual earnings report showed.

BYD's NEV model Seal of the Ocean series and its NEV models Tang and Han of the Dynasty series are priced at over CNY200,000. In August, the carmaker's Denza brand unveiled the upscale multi-purpose vehicle D9, sold at between CNY329,800 and CNY459,800.

Editor: Martin Kadiev