BYD has launched an upgraded version of its top selling BYD Seal electric sedan, with a live-streamed unveiling on its Weibo page overnight, along with news of a new starting price in China the equivalent of just $A37,200.
In recent years, BYD has seen success in Australia with the Atto 3, which was its best-seller until the Seal electric sedan was bought into Australia last year. The Seal is now the brand’s best-selling model in Australia. (See Australia’s month by month sales date here).
The new China price of $A37,200 includes a number of upgrades such as the use of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) on the roof in some variants, helping improve the advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) when on highways.
Other manufacturers like Tesla have stayed away from LiDAR technology for its Autopilot as the company focuses on using the car’s camera hardware for that system.
Along with the LiDAR, the new car features BYD’s latest drivetrain technology in the form of a new platform first seen in the BYD Sealion 7.
The new e-platform 3.0 EVO has been noted to have a faster DC fast-charging speed, which has been increased to 240 kW from the car’s current 150 kW. That’s thanks to an upgraded 800-volt architecture that underpins the drivetrain and blade batteries found in the new Seal.
Like the current model, two battery packs will be on offer with the entry model coming with a 60 kWh pack while the bigger battery pack comes in at 80 kWh.
More upgrades are seen in the interior of the vehicle including new wheel options on the exterior along with a new dashboard on the inside.
The new model still features a large infotainment screen and the driver information screen behind the steering wheel.
Locally, the current model is offered in three variants with the base Dynamic model having a starting price of under $50,000 before on-roads.
After recent price adjustments, the top-spec dual-motor equipped Performance model now lands under $70,000 driveaway, making it one of the best value sports sedans in the market.
BYD has seen the model perform well in terms of local sales with YTD sales of 4,662 vehicles exceeding that of the popular Atto 3 SUV in 2024.
Last week, the brand announced that it had exceeded 25,000 sales in Australia in under 2 years of customer deliveries. The BYD Seal made up 5,133 of these total sales.
The new model’s customer deliveries are to begin in China in the coming months following likely first customer deliveries in Australia in 2025.
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.