BYD SEALION 7

Chinese giant aims to add comfort and quality to its technical showcase

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BYD is the latest Chinese car brand to have decided that the most effective route to making money in Europe is via a mid-sized, £50,000, all-electric crossover. And so, here to try to force its way in alongside the Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Polestar 2 and more comes the Sealion 7.

This is BYD’s first car in Europe to adopt new powertrain and platform technology, taking on-road performance and rapid-charging capabilities to new heights. It’s supposed to be the first member of a family of Sealion SUV models, although BYD hasn't said whether there will be larger ones than this, or if the 7 is as big as they will get. As we will come to explain, the Sealion 7 certainly isn’t small by its own particular class's standards.

Like many of its rivals, this car offers single- and dual-motor derivatives, the latter especially taking power, torque and performance well into the realms of the excessive. It uses BYD's proprietary battery technology and, unlike most of its rivals, is powered exclusively by lithium-iron-phosphate cells, for which BYD claims plenty of notional and technical advantages over more class-typical nickel-manganese-cobalt ones.

We elected to test an entry-level, single-motor Comfort-spec model.

DESIGN & ENGINEERING

PROS More design charisma than some Chinese-made rivals; LFP battery should deliver good longevity and still perform well in colder temperatures

CONS Seems short on battery capacity and rapid-charging power