A few weeks back on these pages I said that ‘The Chinese are coming’. Well, that wasn’t really true as when it comes to the new car market, the Chinese are already here.
Last week, Motor Distributors Limited (MDL), who already hold the Irish franchise for Mercedes, Smart and BYD, introduced us to a range of cars from another Chinese company called XPeng (pronounced zepeng).
We were able to take a test drive in the Xpeng’s G6 model, which is already available in some Irish garages, and they also had on display, their G9, which will be a flying car. So, in few years from now if somebody asks you how you are getting on in your new car, you will probably say something like “Ah sure I’m flying”.
But back to the BYD and last week I drove their Seal U Super Hybrid, which last November was voted Continental Irish Large Car of the Year. Prior to June of 2023, we had never heard of the BYD brand, where the letters stand for ‘Build Your Dreams’. Ciaran Allen, the Sales Director at MDL told us at that time that BYD was the biggest car brand you have never heard of.
The first model we got from BYD was the Atto 3, then came the Dolphin, but very quickly BYD’s third model the Seal overtook the Atto 3 and Dolphin in terms of sales.
While the first two cars from BYD got much attention for their value for money, the Seal is a rival for other electric sports saloons like the Tesla Model 3 and Hyundai Ioniq 6.
Last year I drove the small electric version of the Seal, which at that time had a starting price of €44,036 for the Design version and €49,836 for the Excellence model. The much larger Seal U Super Hybrid version I drove last week is very competitively priced at €42,150.
Now I am a paid up member of the Hybrid club with many brands now producing versions of cars where the range in full electric mode is gradually increasing. The Seal U which has a 1.5-litre engine, promises a range of up to 80km in full electric mode. When I sat in, the range with a full 60-litre tank of petrol and the battery charged to 80% was 1,000km. Now that’s impressive.
The only aspect of the deal I didn’t like is that you are informed of the remaining range in EV mode as a percentage, not the actual number of kilometres left. But I didn’t need a calculator to work it out. However, for some reason the EV range never fell below 20%; must have been something to do with the hybrid offering.
There is a massive 15-inch infotainment screen on the dash. By pressing a button under the screen, it will rotate from horizontal to a vertical shape. Truth be told, you would need to check out all the controls before you start your journey as you do need time to get familiar with the various buttons on the screen.
The electric version of the Seal that I drove last year had the indicator lever on the right of the steering wheel, just like Kia used to have when they were first introduced to Ireland. But it looks like BYD are reading the Irish reviews and now the stalk for the indicators is located on the left side of the steering wheel.
The gear level is a very attractive Oceanic Crystal one, similar to one used by Volvo in the XC60 that I drove a few months back.
Naturally there is plenty of room for three well-built adults in the back seat and plenty of leg and head room also. The interior is a bit dark, but a full length sunroof provides plenty of light. The boot is small as much of the space back there is given over to the hybrid technology and no room for a spare wheel.
There is plenty more to come from BYD with five new models in the pipeline: A Sealion 7 SUV, Atto 2, a sub-compact Dolphin and Coupe and Estate versions of the Seal.
BYD now has eight dealers in Ireland with two in Dublin, and one in Cork, Galway, Limerick, Kerry, Waterford and Wexford.
Ciaran Allen from MDL makes every presentation informative with some interesting statistic. Last week he told us that 55% of sales of new cars in Ireland are in the greater Dublin and Cork areas, so BYD are well covered.
It’s a very impressive, spacious car and definitely a bargain buy.
