When the media was formally introduced to the BYD Seal at the end of 2023, the company spokesperson suggested the all-electric sedan was a very good, if not brilliant car, but BYD NZ was not expecting to sell big numbers of them.
This seemed an odd remark to make, after explaining that prospective buyers for the Seal were likely to have come from the era of the ‘big Aussie fleet car’ days – Ford Falcons, Holden Commodores and Toyota Camrys.
These drivers have probably moved up the corporate ladder by now and probably still wistfully think of their big sixes as they clamber aboard the corporate stalwart, the medium-sized and reasonably sterile SUV, which is just the same as everyone else’s reasonably sterile SUV.
Why – I asked myself – would they not jump at the chance to get back into a clean, green and extremely handsome, four-door sedan with all the whizbang goodies BYD, a company which takes a – deserved – measure of pride in its innovation and ability to update vehicles on the road, has provided?
I think BYD NZ may be pleasantly surprised once word gets out as to how good the Seal really is, and damn, it is good!
Better than good, the Seal may well find itself on various shortlists for Car of the Year contender, and not by default either, this is a car which invokes the spirit of corporate driving and all you senior account managers and stellar performing sales representatives from the 80s and 90s should be able to relate.
The Seal is available in three guises, Dynamic, Premium and Performance differentiated by battery size, number of electric motors and overall performance.
The top-end Performance Seal for instance sees off 0 to 100km in 3.8 seconds, apparently .5 of a second behind a Tesla 3, but let’s not quibble – on any given day, .5 of a second ain’t much.
And we’re not about to compare a Seal with, well, anything else on the market really, because for every driver, the appeal will be different. My ‘Oh, I love it’ feature is the faux triple exhaust fins adorning the sides of the car – super cool.
It’s not all about looks though, the Seal has other tricks it can do, and balancing a ball on its nose isn’t one of them, though it would be interesting to do the slalom test with a ball in a bowl on the bonnet, I think the Seal’s exemplary handling would let the car ace that one.
But Seal is the first BYD, and possibly the first electric vehicle, to use cell-to-body battery tech, where the battery forms an integral part of the car’s structure.
This not only enhances the car’s skeletal strength, it also improves the efficiency of BYD’s proprietary Blade battery – the safest battery on the market and one which is finding its way into plenty of other electric vehicles outside of BYD.
The Performance Seal also integrates Intelligent Torque Adaption Control (ITAC) which car-people would recognise as an advanced form of torque vectoring, allocating drive torque, torque shift, torque reduction and negative torque to the wheels with the most traction.
BYD has imbued the Seal with a raft of comprehensive safety features, innovative and useful technology, impressive efficiency and electric convenience – vehicle-to-load capability – under $100k pricing and brought the art and grace of car driving to the business sector.
Don’t think too hard – drive it, lease it/buy it. Just seal the deal, you won’t regret it.
