Less than 12 months ago, BYD stunned many in the global automotive industry at the Shanghai Auto Show by unveiling an electric car with a starting price well equivalent to just $A15,000. This came in the form of BYD Seagull, or the Dolphin Mini as it is known in some global markets.
Now the fastest-growing car brand in the world has announced on Weibo that it has produced 360,000 of the Seagull after sales of nearly 35,000 in March.
With a starting price of under $A15,000 in China, the BYD Seagull is one of the best-value ground-up EVs in the market. On the upper end, the top-spec variant starts at under $A18,000.
For this, the Seagull is offered in two battery packs. The base variant comes with a 30.08 kWh BYD blade battery pack which is good for 305 km of CLTC range.
A larger 38.88 kWh is available in the more expensive variants which delivers up to 405 km of CLTC range. This is more likely to be around 300 km on the WLTP cycle which is commonly used in Australia.
Both these battery packs feed a single-motor powertrain which can provide up to 55 kW of power. This is more than enough for inner-city driving.
Given its price point, the BYD Seagull comes with a fairly good safety suite which includes:
- Six airbags
- Rear disc brakes
- Electronic parking brake
- Electronic Stability Programme (ESP)
On the inside, a centre infotainment screen is available and appears to be running a similar software to those found on other locally available models like the bigger BYD Dolphin.
The popularity of this model has taken many by surprise since its original launch at the Shanghai Auto Show in April last year.
In the first 24-hours of the car going on sale, the company had received over 10,000 orders. This provided a strong hint to BYD and many other electric car makers in the huge demand for an affordable electric city car in the rapidly growing Chinese market.
Fast-tracking to six months later in November, the company announced that it had produced 200,000 units, making the Seagull one of the fastest-selling electric cars in the market.
In recent months BYD has also started to export the Seagull into various markets including South America where it will be called the Dolphin Mini.
With 360,000 sales in under 12 months and plans for the city car to be exported to many other global markets in the coming months, it’s likely the Seagull will make up 1 in every 6 cars the brand sells globally in 2024.
BYD Dolphin Mini video review by Fully Charged Show
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.