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BYD’s fourth battery vehicle for Australia takes on the world’s best-selling EV with a generous features count.
BYD has released details of the comprehensively equipped Sealion 7 electric SUV that is set to become the biggest rival to the popular Tesla Model Y.
Orders open at 3pm Wednesday 12th February for the Sealion 7, which shares its platform with the Seal electric sedan and will be offered in a choice of single-motor Premium or dual-motor Performance variants.
Pricing will be announced then, though BYD has revealed the extensive list of standard features that will mostly be shared across the rear-wheel-drive Sealion 7 Premium and all-wheel-drive Sealion 7 Performance.
Equipment highlights include panoramic sunroof, head-up display, Dynaudio 12-speaker audio, electric front seats with heating and ventilation, 15.6-inch rotating infotainment touchscreen, 10.25-inch LCD driver cluster, surround view, 50-watt wireless phone charging with cooling, wireless smartphone integration, one-touch tailgate, and V2L (vehicle to load) capability.
The Performance’s extra features are simply a heating function for both the steering wheel and rear seats, and 20-inch alloy wheels rather than 19s.
Its outputs of 390kW and 690Nm generate a claimed 0-100km/h time of 4.5 seconds, compared to the 6.7sec of the 230kW/380Nm Premium.
The rear-drive Premium, however, has the longer WLTP battery range at 482km – an extra 26km over the Performance that wears bigger wheels and is 115kg heavier (2340 v 2225kg).
That gives the base Sealion 7 a small range advantage of 16km over the upcoming facelifted Model Y RWD, though the Long Range AWD version of the Tesla SUV offers a 551km WLTP that beats both BYDs.
Combined luggage capacity for the 4.8-metre-long SUV is 558 litres, split between a 500L boot and 58L frunk up front.
The BYD Sealion 7 launches just a few months before the heavily updated Model Y that is due in June.
‘Launch Editions’ of the Model Y have been priced from $63,400 for the entry RWD and from $73,400 for the AWD Long Range.
The BYD Sealion 7 is part of the Chinese brand’s ambitions to increase sales significantly in 2025. It entered the ute market at the start of the year with the segment’s first plug-in hybrid offering, the Shark 6.
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