When it comes to electric luxury SUVs, the options are getting better and better with each passing day. Here comes the newest entrant from BYD and it goes by the name Sealion 7. It's a family electric SUV and it solves the biggest problem faced by its saloon sister - the Seal. Part of the Ocean series, the Sealion 7 is its SUV derivative and it’s here to give sleepless nights to some premium German SUVs. So, should you sit up and take notice of this newest kid on the block? Let’s find out.
Now when it comes to styling, the Sealion has some similar traits to its saloon sister - the Seal. This one gets a futuristic-looking yet familiar headlamp setup with extending DRLs. But I particularly like the lighting signature on the inside. It is akin to the angel lamps seen on modern BMWs. Move to the side and you'll notice a very nice clean profile. Before that let me give you the dimensions, it's 4.8m in length with a wheelbase of almost three metres. That makes it slightly bigger than the BMW X3 and the Mercedes Benz GLC.
In profile, you see flush door handles, a sloping roofline and large 20-inch alloy wheels. Compared to the Seal this one has a taller girth and higher ground clearance as well. And of course, there's the coupe-like C-pillar making this one a coupe-SUV. But unlike some coupe SUVs, this one doesn't look like an afterthought.
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Move to the back and you have more Seal similarity with the sleek tail bar running across with a smart signature but the interesting element is the ducktail spoiler on the tailgate and a more aerodynamic roof-mounted spoiler that has gaps in between, like some of the race cars. There are four colour options to choose from - Black, Blue, White And Gray. Not funky and has a bit of plain-Jane colour options but the black looks a bit mafia, the grey looks subtle while the white is more subdued. And the blue doesn't look exactly like a blue.
We come to the cabin and the cabin – like all BYD cars – has a familiar story. Not only does the door have a good closing thud to it that you usually associate with very premium luxury cars, but the cabin layout and overall design, as well as the material used all around are top-notch. The material has a luxurious and premium feel, and it also feels built to last, which is a good thing to have in your car especially when it's not German. But there's also some quirkiness thrown all around the cabin - which is the BYD story. For instance, you have the door opener which is integrated into the panel, and it looks and feels funky to operate.
As for the driver display, the squarish layout could do with more design because it comes across as very boring - despite having a lot of information on offer. I wish it was slightly bigger with a better interface since the screen has a lot of negative space in there. Meanwhile, the party piece of this rotating touchscreen is still carried over which is definitely good, and more importantly the interface here it's very familiar to the one you Seal but it has been updated slightly. The software is smoother, it's more intuitive and the icons are more colourful.
Move to the centre console and you have a familiar panel with buttons including a crystal layout for the gear lever. There are buttons around it for brake energy regeneration, drive modes, AC control and even a volume rocker. And more importantly, on the centre console, you get a wireless charging pad with an Alcantara-like finish. There's a practical cubby hole under the driver's armrest a proper cup holder a large bottle holder in the door pads and a glove box as well.
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As for the seats they are large and comfortable, but they don't get adjustable headrests. They are like sports seats or bucket seats and they do hug you in the right places. The overall sense of space up front is large and comfortable, while the visibility all around is great especially in the mirrors and over the bonnet. But I have one big complaint – the rear visibility is not that great. At the back, the windscreen is quite narrow and it's the narrowest windscreen I've seen in any SUV. The rear C-pillar is also thick and the visibility at the back is not that great, especially for newer drivers and parking.
Before we talk about the second-row space there are two things I want to address. First, for any coupe-SUV, there's always a problem of it looking like an afterthought and I'm sure not many people would disagree with me when I say that this Sealion 7, doesn't look like an afterthought for its coupe-like design. And secondly, the biggest problem with any coupe-like design is the rear headroom on offer. But that’s not a problem in the Sealion. It still offers loads of headroom for my frame (I am 5’5”) more so helped by the large panoramic glass roof that adds to the overall sense of space. There is ample amount of leg room here too and three adults could fit in snuggly abreast. As mentioned earlier, offers 520 litres of boot space despite this being a coupe-SUV bodystyle. So overall, the space and practicality come as the strongest suit of the Sealion 7, and it is one of the prominent reasons why it will attract a lot of buyers.
There's one battery pack on offer in India 82.6kWh, whereas internationally there are two battery packs available. Even the Seal has two options for battery packs. Here in the SUV, this LFP blade battery means that the range should be impressive. There are two setups that you'll be able to buy - single motor RWD, and what you see in the pictures here - two-motor AWD. The former has 331bhp and it can do 0-100kmph in just 6.7 seconds. Meanwhile, the latter can hit the tonne from the standstill in 4.5 seconds. As this one has over 520bhp and just under 700Nm. The range for RWD is 567km while the AWD isn't too far less at just over 540km. This is under the NEDC cycle which means a realistic range of over 500kms is easily attainable.
This powertrain setup, we have experienced in the Seal sedan, but it feels completely different here. The Seal is quite low-slung, the acceleration feels quicker, and it is more of a driver's car. Here in the Sealion 7, it is still fairly quick. The acceleration is pretty brisk if not neck-snappingly quick. You do get good linear power delivery but it's not exactly hard enough to push you in your seat. But the acceleration is smooth, it's easy, and the controls are light and comfortable. The steering it's pretty light actually and it goes two and a half turns lock-to-lock which means it is direct as well. But the setup still doesn’t feel like it is a driver’s car. It feels like a proper family SUV that’s good to drive.
The only irk being the rear visibility.
As for the brake energy regeneration, there are only two settings. There's ‘High’ and ‘Standard’, but more importantly there's no difference between both these regeneration settings. In fact there's no one-pedal setup here either. On the upside, it also offers all sorts of ADAS equipment. Also, it is one of the only cars in India that gives you the projections of pedestrians, two-wheelers, bullock carts and even trucks and buses onto your driver's display. It is quite a funky little feature that you usually only see in a Tesla and it has been provided here. It also needs to be pointed out that all the ADAS features - of which there are many - work brilliantly.
The right quality, as you would expect from any heavy car with a big battery pack, is stiff. It is also riding on 20-inch wheels after all, so you do feel all the irregularities, the bumps, and the creases on the inside. But it's not to the point of being uncomfortable. With this one, you could actually go to places where Seal owners might fear to tread. That additional ground clearance (it is around 163mm compared to the 140mm in the Seal) does give you a little bit of more confidence for when the road starts to disappear. This is an all-wheel drive, but don't go off-roading with it. Instead, you can actually manage to take hard corners pretty confidently. And for the mundane city commutes this electric coupe-SUV feels comfortable, has good range, and it can be your good ‘one car electric garage’ because it can actually do it all.
The Sealion 7 then comes as a great alternative for electric car buyers in the luxury space who couldn't get themselves to buy the Seal owing to its sedan body style and low ground clearance. It is well built, has loads of features, and offers a good in-cabin experience be it space, practicality or quality. It's also great to drive sparing the stiff ride quality. And close to 500km of realistic driving range should also work in its favour. And then there's the pricing. BYD will price it quite aggressively which will pull in some of the luxury car buyers something that the Seal couldn't do despite being such a brilliant product. With this, BYD has a winner in its hands.
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Pictures by Arvind Salian
