BYD plans major upgrade of Seal electric sedan, with first test vehicle spotted on the road

BYD has been performing well in the Australian EV market with a line-up of 3 fully electric models. The latest addition to the line-up has been the Seal electric sedan which has had over 4,000 sales in the first half of 2024, helping it get to gain the third spot on the EV sales podium.

Now, reports out of China state that there is a new BYD Seal in the works which is likely to be called the Seal 07 EV, adding some major upgrades to the company’s leading electric sedan.

Pictures of this upgraded Seal 07 EV have been captured in its home market of China and were shared by Chinese EV market analyst, Thinkercar, on X. This test vehicle was seen driving in Shenzhen near the Luohu District.

The pictures show a test vehicle with multiple antennas and sensors attached to it. Along with that, multiple panels of the vehicle was sighted with coverings, hinting of other changes to the current car.

According to reports, the new Seal was set to launch in China in July but has since been delayed due to updates to its assisted driving system. This is an area which its competitor Tesla leads in, particularly in Australia, with the Autopilot offering.

Other feature upgrades in the updated model have been speculated such as the addition of a LiDAR setup which is not available on the current Seal.

Underneath the skin, the 2025 BYD Seal will likely adopt the new Sealion 7 that’s set to begin customer deliveries shortly in China.

In May this year, BYD announced that the Sealion 7 was going to feature the company’s newest e-Platform 3.0 EVO. The new platform has been noted to have a faster DC fast-charging speed, which has been increased to 240 kW.

For context, the Seal currently can charge at speeds of up to 150 kW which is fairly adequate for most journeys and the entry-level Dynamic variant starts at under $50,000 before on-roads.

Last week, BYD’s mid-sized electric SUV, the Sealion 7 with the new platform was spotted testing in Melbourne, hinting what’s to come from the runner-up EV brand.

The new 2025 BYD Seal with e-Platform 3.0 EVO and other upgrades is expected to be launched next month with Chinese customer deliveries to begin in September.

During the same month, BYD intends fo launch its first electric hot-hatch, the Seal 06 GT, which will steal most of the headlines in the coming months.

Given the pace of change at BYD, it’s likely that many of the upgrades will make it to our shores by the end of 2024.