BYD Seal U SUV

1.5 DM-i Comfort 5dr Auto [2024]

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If you need an introduction to BYD, it's one of many Chinese automotive manufacturers taking the UK market by storm.

Many have arrived on these shores over the last couple of years.

There’s Ora, Omoda, Jaecoo and Leapmotor – and that’s only a handful of them.

BYD is in the same boat.

The brand name first appeared in 1995 when it launched as a battery manufacturer, and although the car-making division came about later, it’s anything but new.

In fact, BYD Auto, as it’s known in its native city of Shenzhen in Guangdong, was formed over 22 years ago when it took over Xi’an Qinchuan Automobile. This company had been doing business since the late 1980s.

You probably wouldn't want to drive any of the cars it produced in its earlier years, which were poorly built and unworthy of comparison with even the lowliest European manufacturers at the time.

But China is now rejecting this typecast – and the floodgates have truly opened.

BYD has only been trading cars in the UK since 2023 but already boasts a fleet of six electric vehicles: the Atto 2, Atto 3, Sealion 7, Dolphin, Dolphin Surf, and Seal.

But it’s now launched its first hybrid, called the Seal U DM-i, though rather confusingly, it bears little resemblance to the electric Seal.

The name is a rather strange choice, then, given they're entirely different cars, but what we're far more bothered about is how good it is.

We have taken one for a test drive to find out.