The BYD Seal DM-i PHEV sedan will hit the pre-sales in China in August this year. Its price was said to start from 180,000 yuan (25,080 USD). Meanwhile, the mass-production of the Seal DM-i has already started at the BYD Zhengzhou factory. Moreover, some Chinese bloggers were lucky enough to get acquainted with it. So now, we know a lot of details on the Seal DM-i. Let’s get to them.
Production-version BYD Seal DM-i displayed to bloggers
Finally, the production versions of the BYD Seal DM-i became available for some media guys to get acquainted with. As we can see in the pictures and the video, the show car is finished in a blue shade which looks really close to the BYD Seal EV body color called “Atlantic Gray”. So, we have a chance now to see the Seal not in its purple press-color, but in another shade.
According to a blogger’s speech in the video, the Seal DM-i isn’t a sedan that is based on the BYD Han DM-i. Instead, it has a new front-drive chassis. On the rear axle, it has got a five-link independent suspension. He has also mentioned that the Seal DM-i looks really close to the Seal EV because of the similar headlights and a taillight unit design. On the other hand, these cars are quite different in terms of size and positioning. The dimensions of the Seal DM-i are 4980/1890/1495 mm with a wheelbase of 2900 mm. So, it is 180 mm longer, 15 mm wider and 35 mm higher than the Seal EV. And it also has a more traditional body shape.
Inside, the Seal DM-i has also appeared to be a nice place to sit in. Opposite to the sporty interior look of the BYD Seal EV, the PHEV sedan looks more practical and comfortable. It has nice-looking wooden elements on the center console and door cards. Of course, it isn’t a real wood, but it looks high-end. The center tunnel of the Seal DM-i has a spacious compartment. The same goes with the armrest. It also has a splitter here. As for the center screen, it is a standard rotatable floating monitor that we can often see in different BYD cars. But it has a new DiLink 5.0 OS. Moreover, it is powered by Qualcomm 7325 chips.
On the second row of the BYD Seal DM-i, blogger mentioned that it has a bit less space that the Han DM-i. On the other hand, it is still a quite roomy sedan. We can see only one possible problem here. On the video, we can see a passenger with a height of 177 cm. And his head was really close to the ceiling while he was sitting in the second row. It means that tall adults can have some problems with available head room. All in all, a blogger mentioned that the Seal DM-i is a great car for its price segment.
BYD Seal DM-i pricing and pre-sales
The BYD Seal DM-i will hit pre-sales in August this year. As its manufacturing process has already started in China, we expect the deliveries to also start in August or in early September. Speaking of the price tag of the BYD Seal DM-i, it will start a bit lower than the Seal EV. Its entry-level model will be available for 180,000 yuan (25,080 USD). For this price, Chinese customers will get a relatively big sedan with plug0in hybrid powertrain and 121 km of range. The more expensive Seal DM-i will be able to run up to 200 km on a single battery charge. As for the mixed range, it will be over 1,000 km.
The pricing of the Seal DM-i is quite reasonable. For an example, the Han DM-i with the same battery starts form 189,800 yuan (26,430 USD) in China. It seems that these two models can easily cannibalize each other. And we think that the Seal DM-i can become a winner in this rivalry. It seems like BYD wants to replace the old Han sedan with the new product. We will keep an eye on the market situation, so stay tuned!
Source: Weibo大家车言论, Weibo闲·传车, Autohome
