BYD, the world’s fastest-growing car company, has officially launched its first electric hot-hatch, the Seal 06 GT, at an event in China, with a starting price equivalent to $A28,700, and a promise that it can charge as much higher speeds.
This price undercuts the BYD Seal despite including some of its newest technologies, including the company’s latest e-Platform 3.0 Evo which features faster motors and charging speed improvements, thanks to its 800 Volt architecture.
According to the brand, this vehicle targets “young people” and focuses on accessible EV ownership.
On its Weibo page, BYD said: “Young people’s first GT, Seal 06GT is officially launched, e-platform 3.0 Evo is equipped with more than 100 core configurations as standard for the entire series, GT is trendy and fun”.
Using a Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) chemistry BYD blade battery pack, the Seal 06 GT will come in two-pack configurations and four variants.
The first is a 59.52 kWh that will deliver up to 505 km of CLTC range, while a bigger 72.96 kWh pack will deliver up to 605 km CLTC range. Real-world range of the latter is likely to be closer to 450 km on the WLTP cycle.
Charging these packs will take 20 minutes from 30% state-of-charge (SOC) to 80%.
Previously, the Sealion 07, BYD’s Tesla Model Y-sized EV, has been showcased to have charging speeds of 10-80% in just 25 minutes, so it’d be interesting to see if the Seal 06 GT gets closer to that, given it shares the same e-platform 3.0 Evo architecture.
For comparison, the BYD Seal, which is the fastest-charging car that BYD sells in Australia, charges from 10-80% in around 38 minutes.
This model comes in multiple powertrains with the entry-level rear-wheel-drive base variant to be powered by a 160 kW rear motor that can deliver 310 Nm of torque. It also accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 7.5 seconds.
In Australia, the MG4 is the current direct rival to this car, which, in its base, is an Excite 51 variant that sprints to 100 km/h in just over 7 seconds. What’s mind-boggling is that the MG4, with a rear-wheel-drive powertrain, is currently priced from $30,990 driveaway.
Moving onto the second powertrain for the Seal 06 GT, which features a dual-motor setup delivering a peak power of 310 kW, helps it sprint from 0-100 km/h in just 4.9 seconds.
This variant will have a starting price of $A39,200 and is aimed at rivalling the MG4 X-Power.
For a quick comparison, this variant is less powerful than the MG4 X-Power, which has been in the Australian market for just over ten months. The X-Power, with its dual-motor powertrain, delivers 320 kW of power, helping it accelerate from 0-100 km/h in just 3.8 seconds.
Recent factory discounts on the MG4 X-Power can help get the driveaway price of that car closer to $50,000.
All that said, the BYD Seal 06 GT is a bigger, more spacious car, thanks to its length of 4,630 mm, making it considerably longer than the MG4, which comes in 4,287 mm. It would appeal to a broader range of customers in China.
The Seal 06 GT model was unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show in April 2024 under the Ocean-M concept. In less than six months, the car has officially been launched, allowing buyers to place orders with deliveries set to begin soon.
It’s unclear if BYD plans to release the car in international markets in 2025, but one thing is for sure: the largest NEV maker wants to play in all segments of the market.
It’s refreshing to see a car that’s not an SUV being launched with so much excitement around it. We look forward to seeing how this model goes for BYD and will track it to see if it leaves China for export markets like Australia in 2025 and beyond.
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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.