The price range of BYD Seal is expected to be in RMB 220,000 ($34,710) - 280,000, and it could be unveiled around the Beijing Auto Show in April, according to local media.
(Image credit: Xchuxing)
As the largest Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) maker, BYD has a very rich product matrix. Now, a new model is about to join and is expected to be another one of its hot sellers.
Local auto site Xchuxing posted several images of what is purported to be a BYD Seal model on Thursday, as well as a spec sheet suggesting that the model could be BYD's to challenge the Tesla Model 3.
(Image credit: Xchuxing)
From these images, the model looks similar to the Ocean-X, a concept car unveiled at BYD's launch of the e-platform 3.0 last September, which means it uses the Ocean Aesthetics design concept.
When BYD announced the Ocean-X, it said it would be a prototype for the company's Ocean series sedan, which is somewhat smaller in size than the flagship Han model.
(Image credit: BYD)
The spec sheet echoes this, showing the model's length, width and height to be 4,770 mm, 1,860 mm and 1,460 mm, respectively, with a wheelbase of 2,900 mm.
For comparison, the BYD Han EV measures 4,980 mm in length, 1,910 mm in width and 1,495 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2,920 mm. The China-made Tesla Model 3 measures 4,694 mm in length, 1,850 mm in width and 1,443 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2,875 mm.
The model will be available in four-wheel drive as well as rear-wheel drive, the same options offered in the China-made Model 3, according to the spec sheet.
It will be available in single-motor versions with 150kW and 180kW of power, as well as a dual-motor version with a maximum power of 360kW and a top speed of more than 180 km/h, according to the sheet.
The model's price range is expected to be in the RMB 220,000 ($34,710) - 280,000 range and could be unveiled around the Beijing Auto Show in April, according to Xchuxing.
The Tesla Model 3 is currently offered in China in a single-motor rear-wheel-drive version as well as a dual-motor all-wheel-drive version for RMB 265,652 and RMB 339,900, respectively.
BYD sold 93,168 NEVs in January, up 361.7 percent year-on-year and essentially unchanged from the 93,945 units sold in December, the third consecutive month in which it exceeded 90,000 units.
Earlier this month, the company hinted at a sales target of 1.5 million NEVs this year, implying a 153 percent increase over the 593,700 units sold in 2021.
For BYD, that doesn't seem like a difficult target to reach.
The company started last year with less than 30,000 NEVs sold, but by the end of the year it had grown to more than 90,000 units.
Behind this is BYD's ability to build hot-selling models and a strong supply chain system.
BYD unveiled the Dolphin, the first model of the e-platform 3.0, at the Chengdu Auto Show on August 29, 2021, priced at RMB 93,800 - 121,800 after subsidies.
The model has become one of the company's most popular models just months after its launch, selling 10,602 units in January, the second consecutive monthly sales of more than 10,000 units in the six months since the model's launch.
The BYD Seal will be the second model in the e-platform 3.0 after the Dolphin, and the information known so far already foreshadows that it could be another hot seller for the company.
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