REPORT 1 (5th SEPT 2025)
BYD’s remarkable rise from being an obscure Chinese oddity in the New Zealand new car sector to a serious mainstream force has been as brutally swift as the acceleration from some of its cars, with the brands local distributor now branching out into BYD’s high-end luxury sub-brands in the future with the imminent arrival of Denza on our shores.
But for now we just have BYD-branded cars, and even some of those are pushing higher into the sphere occupied by luxury brands, just without the price tag.
There is no better example of that than the Sealion 7 - a fully-electric coupe-style version of the Sealion SUV that boasts remarkable quality and impressive levels of standard equipment for an extremely reasonable price.
While the hot Performance version costs $79,990 it is the version you see here that, I reckon, ticks all the boxes and lands at $67,990.
The Premium comes standard with luxury features like a panoramic sunroof, electrically-adjustable genuine leather seats, a huge 15.6-inch rotating infotainment screen, LED lights all round, a heads up display, an electric tailgate, double glazed windows, a heat pump with dual zone climate control, and keyless entry and start (as well as an NFC card and a digital key), while a comprehensive suite of driver assists is also included.
In fact, the only real difference between the Premium and it sore expensive Performance sibling is the fact that the Performance gets an extra electric motor on the front axle and a bump in power to a hefty 390kW/690Nm over the Premium's more than adequate 230kW/380Nm.
Both share the same 82.5kWh battery with the Premium having a claimed range of up to 482km under the WLTP cycle.
Yes, the Premium is slower than the Performance (6.7 seconds to 100km/h versus 4.5), but it sure isn’t slow, and the superior ride quality (the Premium runs on slightly smaller 19-inch wheels and has 150kg less over its front wheels) is far more important to most people than a few seconds off 0 to 100 time anyway.
So we have the Sealion 7 Premium for an extended test, and I will be living with it on as a daily driver for as much of that time as possible.
I have previously had two long-term test EVs in another life (well, job), one of which (a first-gen MG ZS EV) I absolutely loved, and one of which (a Mercedes-Benz EQA that cost considerably more) that I… didn’t.
That was back at the dawn of mainstream EVs entering the New Zealand market, so it will be particularly interesting to see how the BYD’s considerably larger range changes how I live with it.
What is the BYD Sealion 7?
It's complicated, but at the same time, not. You see, while the Sealion 7 is ostensibly a coupe-style version of the Sealion 6 SUV, it also really isn't.
While the two share their names, styling and are pretty much the same size, the Sealion 7 is actually swoopy coupe-style SUV version of the Seal sedan, while the vehicle we know here as the Sealion 6 is actually the Song Plus in China, and was initially launched as an ICE vehicle in 2020. Even more confusingly it is also sold as the Seal U in Europe.
But all of that confusing global nomenclature really means nothing here, and both Sealions line up nicely alongside each other. But there is still one key difference - the Sealion 7 is all-electric, while the Sealion 6 is a plug-in hybrid, reflecting the differing origins of their underpinnings.
Why are we running it?
As a direct competitor to the most popular new EV in New Zealand (that is, the Tesla Model Y), the Sealion 7 has potential for mainstream success in the competitive medium SUV segment, given its aggressive pricing and near-luxury class level of quality.
It is, of course, an EV, a segment that is currently in a sales slump, so that will temper things a bit when it comes to that mainstream success, but the fact remains that the Sealion 7 offers a hell of a lot for what is essentially Honda CR-V money.
So will the Sealion prove itself to be the mythical "Tesla-killer" or is it an all-electric, luxurious alternative to the Honda, Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Tucson and the like? It can, of course, be both. So let's find out...