BYD, the company behind the Dolphin and Seal, launches the Seal U SUV in Europe this summer, complete with a plug-in hybrid drivetrain capable of delivering up to 78 miles of electric driving. Designed to compete with the likes of the Volkswagen Tiguan, Ford Kuga and Toyota RAV4, the bland-looking U offers a choice of three powertrain options. Base cars, badged Boost, get a 1.5-liter naturally-aspirated inline-four that makes a puny 97 hp but is mated to a 195 hp electric motor for a total system output of 215 hp and 300 Nm, all of it sent to the front wheels.
Comfort-spec cars come with exactly the
same kit but swap the Boost’s 18.3 kWh battery (range 80 km) for a
bigger 26.6 kWh pack capable of traveling 78 miles (126 km) between charges.
And for drivers who want more power and are prepared to sacrifice some range,
there’s the top-spec Design trim, which adds turbocharging and all-wheel drive
into the mix.
The Design’s 129 hp combustion
motor is supplemented, or maybe that should be supplanted, by a 201 hp motor driving the front axle and a 161 hp unit at
the back end with a combined 319 hp and 550 Nm. Zero to 100 km/h is done and dusted in 5.9 seconds, but it’s only good for 43
miles of electric driving, BYD says. BYD knows that it’ll need to woo some
skeptical buyers, so it’s packed plenty of equipment inside the U’s five-seat
cabin, including a 15.6-inch rotatable infotainment screen, dual smartphone
chargers, and V2L capability, allowing owners to use the car to charge portable
devices when there’s no mains supply nearby.
And it also comes with a decent warranty
that guarantees 70 percent battery capacity for eight years or 200,000 km in addition to covering the rest of the car for six years and
150,000 km. It sounds like a strong package, though we won’t
know exactly how strong until BYD reveals prices a little later this summer.
