BYD Dolphin Surf city EV will cost around £15,000 and offer 'best value' for buyers
- Dolphin Surf - the Seagull/ Dolphin Mini in other markets - goes on sale this year
BYD, the huge Chinese cheap EV disruptor, has revealed it's bringing a sub-£20,000 EV to the UK.
The Dolphin Surf - which follows in the sea-themed naming sequence the brand's Ocean Series cars - is a new name for the car that's called the Seagull or Dolphin Mini in other markets.
While the Dolphin Surf isn't going to become the cheapest EV, it will be one of the cheapest with BYD boss Stella Li claiming it will offer 'the best value' when it goes on sale later this year.
Currently in China it costs around £8,000, but it will be more expensive and sophisticated for the UK market, with more tech and improved safety features too.
The budget city EV is part of the Chinese auto giant's ambitious plan to become the world's largest car manufacturer in 2025, overtaking Toyota and cementing it as the king of the car world.
So, what can you expect from the Dolphin Surf and will it be enough to help BYD achieve this goal?
BYD is bringing a circa £15,000 city EV to the UK market called the Dolphin Surf to compete against the Dacia Spring and Citroen e-C3
The price point and value
The BYD (Build Your Dreams) Dolphin Surf is set to cost around £15,000.
The current cheapest EV in the UK is the £14,995 Dacia Spring and it will undercut the Leapmotor T03, Fiat Grande Panda and the Citroen e-C3 which start from £15,995, £18,975 and £21,990 respectively.
The 'best value' promise perhaps includes the range of more than 200 miles on a single charge as it's currently on sale in China with a choice of 30kWh or 38kWh batteries which deliver 190 or 252 miles of range - more than the Spring and the Leapmotor T03 offer.
Dolphin Surf will come with a significantly uprated 175bhp powertrain, the Chinese model's 74bhp motor offers enough power to accelerate from 0-62mph in 13 seconds and a top speed of 81mph.
China also gets a choice of 74bhp or 100bhp motors but BYD is expected to offer an upgraded 175bhp powertrain for the UK market which would give a top speed of 81mph and 0-62mph in 13 seconds.
However, these could change before it hits the UK market.
And the interior is set to be a more polished version of the ocean-inspired interior of the Chinese variant, which comes with a 12.8-inch touchscreen, wireless charging and voice control.
The BYD Dolphin Surf is called Seagull or Dolphin Mini in other markets and only costs the equivalent of £8,000 in China
The range is expected to be around 200 miles on a single charge which is more than the Dacia Spring offers
The Fiat Grande Panda EV starts from £18,975 and is one of the new retro-inspired EVs taking off in Europe
What else does BYD have planned?
Other than world domination, you can expect to see many other BYD sub-brands arriving in the UK soon.
The company's Denza brand - a Porsche rival - will arrive this year, while Yangwang will also bring its U9 Ferrari supercar rival to our shores in the near future.
Thee Yangwang U8 Range Rover rival is famous for being able to 'swim' and to 'tank turn' 360 degrees but is not available to buy here.
This all follows the imminent launch of the BYD Sealion 7, BYD's seventh model in the UK and sixth electric car.
Bono Ge, UK country manager, also confirmed that BYD will go from 62 to 120 dealers by the end of 2025, with 150-170 dealers the long term number.
Ge said BYD's brand awareness has surged from from just one per cent at the start of 2024 to 31 per cent at the end of it, thanks largely to being the official partner of UEFA Euro 2024.
BYD's ultra-rapid chargers will offer double the peak power of Tesla's latest V4 Supercharger (pictured), which is the fastest device available to EV owners in Britain today
The 1,360kW devices will add 1.2 miles of range ever second - apparently the same speed as filling up with petrol
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BYD charging - the fastest EV charging by a mile
Not content to just beat the competition on 'value' and price, BYD is also aiming to deliver the fastest charging in the world.
Before it was an auto maker BYD was a battery producer so it makes sense it leads the way in the charging arena.
BYD's launched its own 1360kW ultra-rapid chargers which set sights firmly on Tesla's Superchargers in China.
The Megawatt Flash Charging system can add 1.2 miles of range every second which BYD claims allows an EV to charge at the same speed it takes to fuel a petrol car.
While Stella Li said the ambition is to bring this charging tech to the UK, she said it is part of a 'longer term trajectory'.
