All-electric BYD Seal 7 ready to make a splash in South Africa

When I tell you that I got to spend some time driving a BYD Seal 7, the first question you will probably ask is: ”What is a BYD Seal 7?”

Simply put, a BYD Seal 7 is a 390kW/670Nm luxury electric sedan that is said to hit 100km/h from a standstill in a mere 3.8 seconds while offering a range of 520km on a single charge.

The second question you might ask is: “Who is BYD?” Build Your Dreams, or BYD for short, started out as a little battery making company in 1995 in Shenzhen, China. Under the guidance of their founder, Wang Chuanfu, they have transformed into the largest supplier of electric vehicles in the world. Charging (get it?) past Tesla in the process.

BYD Seal 7 joins Atto 3 and Dolphin

The Seal 7 joins the Atto 3, launched in July 2023, and the Dolphin, South Africa’s cheapest electric vehicle, launched in April 2024.

The Atto 3 retails for R768 000 and the Dolphin for R539 900. The Seal 7 comes in at R999 900 for the Lux EXT rear-wheel drive model which produces slightly less power and torque at 230kW and 360Nm compared to the R1 199 900 all-wheel drive Lux Performance.

It was the flagship that The Citizen Motoring got to have a brief and mostly unexciting drive in. Except for the poor man in the BMW that took huge umbrage and wanted to show the four of us crammed into the BYD Seal 7 his latest karate moves. You see, I got a bit lost (thanks Google Maps) and ending up coming out a side road the wrong way round and this delayed Mr BMW’s progress by around 2.5 seconds.

I am not sure what the outcome of the road rage fight would have been. But I do know that when I hit the accelerator pedal on the BYD Seal 7, it was game over for him and his BMW.

ALSO READ: BYD Dolphin and Seal make surprise splash at Festival of Motoring

Big test still to come

All I could see as he faded away into the distance was that he must of being listening to one of those “Learn Sign Language in 30 Days” things. His hands and fingers were flapping around like he was translating a Jacob Zuma budget speech.

Seriously though, that was the end of anything to get the adrenalin going. As we turned onto the N1 South, the right time round this time, it was slow-moving traffic. So I activated adaptive speed control before a driver change point at the Engen garage just before the Grasmere toll plaza on our way to Pont de Val.

There was not to be another go at the BYD Seal 7 to suitably test any form of handling or composure as I was ferried back to JHB in an Atto 3.

Carmaker going places

The BYD Seal 7 feels fast and comes with a host of luxury and tech features. All of which we hope to delve into when we get the car on test for a longer period.

With more models on the horizon that include at least two SUVs and a 320kW/650Nm plug-in hybrid bakkie called the Shark, that is said to get here early next year.

The BYD dealer network is also expected to expand from the five current dealers to 25 by the end of 2025. This means you might be hearing a bit more from them than you have up till now.