2025 (75) BYD SEALION 7 390kW Design AWD 83kWh 5dr Auto

Cars like BYD's Sealion 7 will in future be European-built to preserve this Chinese maker's Western sales surge. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Review

With this Sealion 7, BYD brings us its most sophisticated car yet, an upper mid-sized electric SUV with the engineering and luxury to take this Chinese maker firmly into premium territory.

Background

If the European makers thought that imposing stringent tariffs on the flood of Chinese-built EVs entering our market would stem the Oriental sales tide, they may need to think again. For the reasons as to why, let's take the car in front of us here as a case study, the BYD Sealion 7. This BYD flagship model, a sleekly-styled mid-sized electric SUV, will initially be hit with a costly EV tariffs, but from 2026 when the Chinese maker's new Hungarian factory comes on stream, it will by-pass those entirely. And it's at that stage that the competitors being targeted here - primarily Tesla, the Volkswagen Group and Stellantis - will really feel the force of BYD. Globally, they already have. In 2024, BYD sold 4.7 million new vehicles, a year after overtaking Tesla to become the world's largest electric vehicle maker, while also overtaking Volkswagen as China's best-selling automotive brand. This car introduces the brand's latest, rather different model structure that in future will see all the marque's SUVs bear 'Sealion' badges, all its saloons designated 'Seal' and all its hatchbacks have a 'Dolphin' nameplate, each model design with a number to indicate its positioning in the range. As for this Sealion 7, which reached the UK market in late 2024, well it aims to encapsulate everything BYD has so far learned as a car maker. Which as it turns out, is quite a lot.

Driving Experience

In this case, there are two kinds of Sealion; docile and fierce. The docile entry-level 'Comfort' version uses an 82.5kWh battery and is propelled by a 308bhp single rear motor, which BYD says can run at up to 23,000rpm, making it the world's fastest electric motor in mass production. Select the more urgent of the provided drive modes ('Sport') and the base variant makes 62mph in 6.7s en route to 113mph. Select 'ECO' and in theory the entry-level model can take the car up to 300 miles. The other drive settings are 'Normal' - and 'Snow' (which maximises traction in slippery conditions). Plus there are two regenerative braking modes, the strongest of which isn't that arresting. Fiercer Sealion variants use a dual motor powertrain, where the same rear motor is joined by a 215bhp front motor, creating a potent total output of 523bhp. This dual motor set-up can be had in the 'Design AWD' form we tried, with the 82.5kWh battery, which goes 283 miles on a charge. Or in top 'Excellence AWD' form with a larger 91.3kWh battery, which goes up to 312 miles on a charge. The dual motor versions have a '4.5 S' badge on the boot lid, which denotes the 0-62mph time. Top speed across the range is a most un-EV-like 133mph. So there's plenty of power, but then there needs to be to tug along a kerb weight that's anything between 2.2-tonnes and nearly 2.5-tonnes, depending on the number of motors your Sealion has. Can the chassis handle all this? Well on paper, you'd think the signs might be good. We liked the way that the Seal saloon handled and BYD claims the so-called 'e-Platform 3.0 EVO' underpinnings used here are even more rigid, aided as on all the brand's models by the way that the pioneering Cell-to-Body battery installation integrates the Blade Battery into the entire vehicle structure. Somewhere along the way though, some of the handling sharpness we liked in the Seal has been lost. Mindful perhaps that the Sealion would be heavier than the Seal, BYD has softened the suspension set-up - double wishbones at the front and a multi-link rear axle. But rather too much, with the result that the car pitches about at speed through fast corners in a manner that will discourage you from wanting to throw it about

Design and Build

The Sealion 7 makes a bit more of a statement than most mid-sized Chinese brand EVs. BYD says that it's taken the 'Ocean' design language previously seen on its Dolphin and Seal models and adapted it to 'a sporty SUV body style'. What that actually means is that there's no requirement here for the kind of separate coupe-SUV body shape that many brands in this sector feel the need to offer: BYD thinks one size fits all here. From the side perspective, you might agree. It's quite a dynamic silhouette for an SUV, with a swept-back rear roof line, a crisp crease rising along the flanks that creates a dual waistline and muscular haunches over the rear wheels. At 4,830mm in length, it's quite a substantial thing (30mm longer and 160mm taller than the brand's Seal saloon). Inside, the cabin is similar to that of the updated Seal. Through the 4-spoke wheel, you view the same digital instrument screen and a head-up display mimicking a virtual 50-inch 'screen' the driver. Plus there's a huge 15.6-inch central touchscreen that as usual with BYDs can rather pointlessly rotate to show either portrait or landscape formats. Equipment of course is generous, with climate-controlled leather seats front and rear, twin wireless smartphone charging pads in the centre console and a big 2.1 square metre panoramic glass roof. Thanks to the generous 2,930mm wheelbase length, there should be space for three adults across the back seat, helped by the fact that the rear roof line is 160mm taller than that of the Seal. There's a decently-sized 520-litre boot too, which grows to 1,789-litres with the rear bench folded). Plus you get 58-litres of 'frunk' space beneath the bonnet.

Market and Model

Budget at around the £47,000 mark for this Sealion 7 in base 'Comfort 82.5kWh form - or around £52,000 for the mid-range 'Design AWD' 82.5kWh model. For the top 'Excellence AWD' version with the bigger 91.3kWh battery, you'll need around £59,000. In the UK, BYD has established partnerships with key dealerships, and opened 65 stores across the nation, including a flagship showroom in Westfields Shopping Mall, West London, with plans to double this figure by the end of 2025. Interestingly for an unknown brand, BYD isn't looking to substantially undercut its main competitors on price. But equipment levels are high. Across the range, the cabin gets a 15.6-inch rotatable screen equipped with an intelligent voice control function that can be activated with the voice command 'Hey BYD'; and seamless smartphone integration via 'Android Auto' or 'Apple CarPlay'. It also features a 10.25-inch full instrument LCD panel and an impressive Dynaudio Performance Audio System provides premium quality sound. In terms of safety and advanced driver assistance, the Sealion 7 offers Forward Collision Warning, Automatic Emergency Braking, Rear Collision Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Rear Cross Traffic Brake, Lane Keep Assistance, Lane Change Assist and Emergency Lane Keep. There's also Adaptive Cruise Control and Intelligent Cruise Control, a 360-degree Panoramic Camera, Blind Spot Detection System, ESP, Traction Control, Hill Decent Control, Automatic Vehicle Hold, Intelligent Speed Limit Information and Intelligent Speed Limit Control. Cutting-edge lighting technology provides a wider beam to aid visibility during night driving, with high beam assist, adaptive headlights and Follow Me Home as standard.

Cost of Ownership

The battery used here is of the unique-to-BYD lithium-ion-phosphate 'Blade' variety, which incorporates cells mounted in the strips directly to the pack. Which, the Chinese maker says, allows for a much higher cell density than a conventional battery could offer. So a much higher driving range then? Afraid not. The 283-312 mile range figures of the top Dual Motor models are reasonably class-competitive, but way off being class leading. To preserve driving range in cold conditions, a heat pump is standard. Seal customers benefit from what the brand calls 'a high-voltage electric drive boost charging solution', which allows for faster charging. This technology innovatively uses the motor inductor to replace the boost inductor, to meet the 420-750V voltage range of charging piles with high-power DC charging. During the charging process, this BYD's drivetrain reduces the heat generation of the charging and distribution assembly for more reliable performance. The Seal offers an 11kW 3-phase on-board charger for AC charging, and the 91.3kWh version can be fast-charged at a DC ultra-fast charging station at up to 230kW; it's up to 150kWh for the smaller 82.5kWh battery. With most Sealion 7s, the battery can be charged from 10% to 80% in 32 minutes (a time which falls to 24 minutes with the 'Excellence' model). As for charging from home, well using a typical 7.4kW wallbox, a full charge would need 13.5 hours for the 'Comfort' and 'Design' models - or 14.9 hours for the 'Excellence' version. You may be fortunate enough to be able to charge via an 11kW wallbox using a three-phase supply and, if so, 18.6 hours would be needed for a full charge for the 'Comfort' and 'Design' models - or 9.6 hours for the 'Excellence' version. You'd think that BYD building, designing and owning this car's entire set of EV drivetrain components (including battery and semiconductors) would allow the company to make the Seal able to offer a truly modern 800V electrical architecture capable of allowing charging with the new breed of ultra-rapid DC public chargers - something we've already seen in this class with the Hyundai Motor Group products. But no, it's the same conventional 400V system as everyone else uses.

Summary

On paper at least, there's almost everything here you might want, not only from a mainstream-brand mid-sized electric SUV but also from something much pricier at the upper end of this class from a premium maker. In reality, it doesn't quite work out like that. The brand still needs to perfect European-style drive dynamics and more accessible infotainment technology. And we continue to be surprised that a battery manufacturer as accomplished as BYD can't offer better drive range figures; and still hasn't adopted kind of 800V electrical infrastructure for its cars that would enable them to use the fastest ultra-rapid DC Chargers. But there are compensations; sharp looks, lots and lots of equipment, a refined comfortable drive demeanour and more cabin space than most other cars in this segment. So getting to know this Sealion might actually be worth thinking about. The Chinese makers are no longer merely 'coming'; they're here, they're good and with cars like this, they're here to stay.