With the Chinese company, BYD, recently overtaking Tesla for the first time, we have a better understanding of the scale of the threat posed by Chinese companies to much longer established car companies.
Trade tariffs are now being considered by both the EU and the United States government in an effort to ward off what both see as subsidised exports from China.
Less than a year ago we in Ireland had hardly ever even heard of BYD (Build Your Dreams), yet it has already launched its third model here. This time the company has companies such as Tesla, Polestar and others in its sights with its new executive class model - the Seal.
At 2.9 metres long, the Seal gives an instant impression of being roomy - and it is. Even with four adults aboard, the car seemed to have almost an excess of leg and headroom when we had a brief launch drive in it.
This is despite the overall design emphasis being on a coupe silhouette, a low to the ground profile and a low drag factor to add to efficiency. The design could not, however, be described as bold or adventurous.
The nods to Tesla's innovation are obvious. Two distinctive features are the 1.3 square metre panoramic roof and the 15.6 inch rotatable screen. After these, space and lots of it, is the key attraction.
The entry level model is the Design version, which costs €44,036 and has rear wheel drive. The next step up is the Excellence, which is all-wheel drive and costs 49,836. Both prices include government grants. The price of the Design is worth noting because Tesla’s recent price drop puts the Model 3 on the new car price list at €42,990 - just over €1,000 cheaper.
The battery is a decent-sized 82.5 kWh unit for both cars and the Excellence gets an extra motor for the four wheel drive system.The Seal has a six year warranty on the car eight years on the battery.
BYD claims a range of up to 570 km’s for the Design and 520 for the heavier Excellence but, as can be expected, these are ideal range predictions. Only real-world driving conditions will yield the true range figures.
First impressions were that the Seal felt less heavy than other similar-sized EV’s, which is good for consumption and that the soft-touch materials inside the vehicle were impressive. After having to fidget quite a lot with the screen to achieve what I wanted to, my suspicion is that it may present challenges when we get a chance to drive it in those real-world conditions.
