New BYD Sealion 7 SUV revealed with 354-mile range
New BYD Sealion 7 is the Chinese brand's largest and most luxurious SUV, and will undercut most rivals on price...
On sale Late 2024 | Price from £50,000 (est)
In the wild, Sea Lions are known for being both intelligent and social animals. It’s perhaps fitting, then, that the new BYD Sealion 7 would take the same name, because it’s a large electric SUV intended to help families travel in comfort.
Sitting above the nautically-themed BYD Dolphin, Seal, Seal U and, erm, Atto 3 in the Chinese brand’s line-up, the Sealion 7 is BYD’s largest electric car. And while it shares some design elements with the Seal, including its thin LED headlights and prominent air intakes, its taller stance and plastic body cladding around its wheel arches marks the Sealion 7 out as an SUV.
Sitting on the same underpinnings as the Seal and BYD’s other models, the Sealion 7 is expected to be sold in two guises, with one using a single motor driving the rear wheels, and the other using two motors to give the car four-wheel drive. In this range-topping form, the Sealion 7 will be capable of accelerating up to 62mph in 4.5sec – faster than entry-level versions of the Porsche Macan Electric.
Although details around the Sealion 7’s battery size and range have yet to be revealed, it’s likely to use the same 82.5kWh battery found in the Seal. In that car, the battery provides a maximum official range of 354 miles – for context, the rival Skoda Enyaq Coupé’s 77kWh battery provides a range of up to 365 miles, while the Volvo EC40 gets 302 miles from its 66kWh battery.
When it comes to recharging, the Sealion 7 can accept rates of up to 230kW, which is comparable with the 233kW maximum accepted by the Hyundai Ioniq 6. That means a 10-80% top-up could take less than 20 minutes if you use the fastest public chargers.
The Sealion 7 will offer seating for five inside, and keeps the same digital instrument screen and infotainment touchscreen which we’ve seen in the Seal. In that car, we’ve found that having to adjust almost everything on the car using its menus can be frustrating, but its graphics are crisp enough and it responds quickly to your touch.
Like in the Seal, it’s likely that the Sealion’s screen will also be able to rotate from portrait to landscape orientation. You might keep it in the former position while driving, for example, before switching to the latter to watch some entertainment while you charge.
Sitting at the very top of BYD’s electric car line-up, it’s expected that prices for the Sealion 7 will start from around £50,000. That’s more than you’d pay for a Skoda Enyaq Coupé, but less than the Volvo EC40.
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