In recent years, BYD has been one of the fastest-growing electric car companies in the world. They’ve achieved this by adding multiple new models to the lineup every year.
After the success of the BYD Seagull affordable city electric car which launched earlier this year, the company is about to launch a new larger ground-up electric SUV which it will call the Sea Lion.
The new model will make its debut at the Guangzhou auto show according to reports from cnevpost.
It will be based on BYD’s in-house e-Platform 3.0 which is shared with the BYD Seal sedan which was launched in Australia last month.
Although the exact specifications of the model are unknown, dimension-wise it’s expected to be similar to the Tesla Model Y.
Currently, BYD’s Song Plus model is available in the Chinese market which fills the large SUV segment in the company’s line-up. When this model launches in other international markets, it may be called the Seal-U.
The Song Plus has been spotted testing in various parts of Australia in recent months, indicating a potential launch next year.
It’s currently unclear if this would be the plug-in hybrid version of an all-electric model for the local market.
Given the Sea Lion is expected to be powered by an all-electric powertrain, it’s likely to be based on the configurations offered on the Seal.
For the Seal, these include a single-motor rear-wheel-drive variant powered by a standard and extended-range blade battery or a dual-motor powertrain that is fed by the larger 82.5 kWh blade battery.
BYD is continuing to launch multiple new models every year at a pace that traditional car makers haven’t seen. Many of these start off in China but are built for global markets like ours in Australia.
The Guangzhou auto show will open its doors this Friday to thousands of car and electrification enthusiasts, customers along with media expected to attend.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.