BYD opened two order books on Monday without telling anyone the price. The second-generation Seal 07 sedan went up for “blind” reservations, and Denza, BYD’s premium brand, started taking reservations for a five-seat N8 SUV that promises up to 1,003 km of range on China’s CLTC cycle. Both get BYD’s second-generation Blade Battery and flash charging. And a third launch, the third-generation Qin Plus, is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 27.
Seal 07, now longer than five meters
Zhang Zhuo, general manager of BYD’s Ocean sales division, announced the Seal 07 blind orders on Weibo on Oct. 26, according to IT之家 (IT Home). A blind order is a refundable expression of interest: BYD hasn’t announced a price, buyers can change color and trim after launch, and the deposit comes back in full any time before the order is locked, 快科技 (MyDrivers) reported. Early birds get gifts and priority in the production queue.
The car itself grows into a different class. It measures 5,080 mm long, 1,960 mm wide and 1,495 mm tall on a 2,960 mm wheelbase. That’s 85 mm longer than the Seal 07 EV that launched in March, with a 60 mm longer wheelbase, CnEVPost notes. IT Home describes it as a C-class family sedan. The highlights:
- Charging: flash charging, pitched by BYD as “ready in 5 minutes, full in 9 minutes,” with up to 705 km of CLTC range on the long-range version, per Autohome.
- Power: 245 kW and 300 kW electric versions in regulatory filings, plus a Seal 07 DM-i plug-in hybrid with a 1.5-liter turbo, a 160 kW motor and a 38 kWh battery good for 245 km of electric driving (WLTC).
- Driver assistance: a roof-mounted lidar paired with BYD’s God’s Eye B system, 第一电动 (D1EV) reports.
- Cabin and cargo: zero-gravity front seats with massage, a 20-speaker Devialet system, a 618-liter trunk and a 160-liter frunk.
The current Seal 07 EV started at 169,900 yuan (about $25,400) in March. BYD needs the refresh. CnEVPost’s data show the whole Seal family sold 46,718 cars in September, down 9.04% from a year earlier, and 304,723 in the first nine months, down 14.11%.
Denza N8: five seats, 1,003 km
Denza’s revamped N8 takes the opposite approach to most big Chinese SUVs and drops the third row. It’s 5,150 mm long on a 3,075 mm wheelbase, 50 mm shorter than the six-seat N8L, with two zero-gravity seats in each row, sliding rear seats and a 1,046-liter trunk. Range on the CLTC cycle tops out at 1,003 km, with 970, 840 and 800 km versions as well, according to 盖世汽车 (Gasgoo). Battery packs are 105.792 kWh and 130.15 kWh.
The single-motor rear-drive versions make 320 kW or 370 kW. A tri-motor version on Denza’s e3 platform puts out 890 kW combined and can do “compass turns,” spinning in place. There’s a 1.1-meter-wide head-up display, a 30-inch center screen, air suspension, rear-wheel steering and BYD’s God’s Eye 5.0 driver assistance. Denza hasn’t priced it either. A 2,000 yuan (about $300) deposit earns a 5,000 yuan (about $750) option credit, CnEVPost reports, and iFeng Tech says the official launch comes in November.
This is the N8 name’s second life. The original launched in August 2023 as a six- and seven-seat plug-in hybrid and was discontinued within a year after weak sales.
Why it matters
BYD is refreshing its lineup at a rapid clip. Just this month the second-gen Seagull went five-seat and rear-drive, and flash charging is spreading from flagships down to family cars. China’s market is soft right now (the CPCA expects weak NEV retail sales in October, and our Japan & China EV Week roundup tracks the trend), so BYD is betting that bigger cars, faster charging and lidar will pull them in. In Japan, BYD sells the Seal and the Sealion 7 but not the Seal 07. A five-meter sedan with nine-minute charging would at least make an interesting test case for Japanese parking spaces.
Sources: IT之家, 快科技 via Sina Finance, 第一电动, 汽车之家, 盖世汽车, 凤凰网科技, CnEVPost (CPCA), CnEVPost (Seal 07), CnEVPost (N8). Exchange rate: about 6.68 yuan per dollar.
— The EVX News team
Featured image: The current BYD Seal 07 (facelift) in a Chinese showroom, the model the second generation replaces. Photo: JustAnotherCarDesigner, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped).
