Lower than 12 months in the past, BYD surprised many within the international automotive business on the Shanghai Auto Present by unveiling an electrical automobile with a beginning value effectively equal to only $A15,000. This got here within the type of BYD Seagull, or the Dolphin Mini as it’s recognized in some international markets.
Now the fastest-growing automobile model on the planet has introduced on Weibo that it has produced 360,000 of the Seagull after gross sales of practically 35,000 in March.
With a beginning value of beneath $A15,000 in China, the BYD Seagull is without doubt one of the best-value ground-up EVs out there. On the higher finish, the top-spec variant begins at beneath $A18,000.
For this, the Seagull is obtainable in two battery packs. The bottom variant comes with a 30.08 kWh BYD blade battery pack which is nice for 305 km of CLTC vary.
A bigger 38.88 kWh is obtainable within the costlier variants which delivers as much as 405 km of CLTC vary. That is extra prone to be round 300 km on the WLTP cycle which is usually utilized in Australia.
Each these battery packs feed a single-motor powertrain which may present as much as 55 kW of energy. That is greater than sufficient for inner-city driving.
Given its value level, the BYD Seagull comes with a reasonably good security suite which incorporates:
- Six airbags
- Rear disc brakes
- Digital parking brake
- Digital Stability Programme (ESP)
On the within, a centre infotainment display screen is obtainable and seems to be operating an analogous software program to these discovered on different domestically obtainable fashions like the larger BYD Dolphin.
The recognition of this mannequin has taken many without warning since its unique launch on the Shanghai Auto Present in April final yr.
Within the first 24-hours of the automobile happening sale, the corporate had acquired over 10,000 orders. This supplied a robust trace to BYD and lots of different electrical automobile makers within the enormous demand for an inexpensive electrical metropolis automobile within the quickly rising Chinese language market.
Quick-tracking to 6 months later in November, the corporate introduced that it had produced 200,000 models, making the Seagull one of many fastest-selling electrical automobiles out there.
In current months BYD has additionally began to export the Seagull into varied markets together with South America the place it will likely be known as the Dolphin Mini.
With 360,000 gross sales in beneath 12 months and plans for town automobile to be exported to many different international markets within the coming months, it’s possible the Seagull will make up 1 in each 6 automobiles the model sells globally in 2024.
BYD Dolphin Mini video evaluate by Absolutely Charged Present
Riz is the founding father of carloop primarily based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV information, perception experiences and developments. He’s a mechanical engineer who spent the primary 7 years of his profession constructing transport infrastructure earlier than beginning carloop. He has a ardour for automobiles, significantly EVs and desires to assist scale back transport emissions in Australia. He at present drives a crimson Tesla Mannequin 3.
