The vehicle thought to be the BYD Seal X has broken cover, with a slightly different name, but one still derived from a furry, aquatic mammal that you would want to pat.
Behold the 2025 BYD Sea Lion 07. First previewed by the 2021 BYD Ocean-X concept, the Sea Lion 07 actually uses the e-Platform Evo – a development of the architecture underpinning other vehicles in BYD’s ‘Ocean Series’. These include the Seal sedan, the Dolphin hatch and the Seagull miniature city car (which we hope and expect to come Down Under soon).
The suffix of ’07’ indicates a fragmented range of crossovers in the Sea Lion range could be under development but for now, the Sea Lion 07 uses a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack of 72kWh capacity, with a range of up to 550km, or an 80kWh unit for the more powerful variant with 610km of range. These are quoted for the rear-wheel drive models on the China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle (CLTC).
An AWD flagship with 390kW sprints from 0-100km/h in 4.2 seconds, but diminishes the official range estimate to 550km, despite using the larger of the two battery packs. All Sea Lion 07s are rated to 180kW of DC fast charging, meaning charging from 10-80 per cent can be achieved in as little as 25 minutes.
As part of the upgraded architecture, BYD’s new DiPilot 100 ADAS system now uses 12 ultrasonic radars, five millimetre-wave radar units and a total of eleven cameras for more precise and smoother integration of semi-autonomous driver functions.
Set to rival the likes of the Tesla Model Y, Toyota bZ4x and Volkswagen ID.5, the Sea Lion is sure to join BYD’s Australian lineup, likely to be priced in the same ballpark as the Seal sedan. We will bring you more information as it comes to hand.