Tag Archives: Seal

NEWS

BYD Seal becomes first EV to win Overall Malaysia Car of the Year Award

The BYD Seal Premium Extended Range has made history by becoming the first EV to win the Overall Car of the Year award at the Malaysia Car of the Year Awards 2024 (MCOTY).

In addition to this top accolade, the Seal Premium Extended Range also triumphed in the Sedan Below RM200,000 and xEV (RM150,000-RM300,000) categories, while the Seal Performance AWD won the Sedan (RM200,000-RM300,000) category.

Moreover, the official distributor of BYD vehicles in Malaysia, BYD Sime Motors, emerged as the biggest winner of the night by sweeping a total of four awards.

Jeffrey Gan, Managing Director of Southeast Asia for Sime Motors, emphasised that the recognition reflects the continued leadership of Sime Motors in the EV market.

“These accolades reflect the trust in BYD’s offerings, supported by Sime Motors’ extensive network, exceptional service centres and outstanding after sales service across the nation,” he said.

The MCOTY is an esteemed recognition that highlights excellence in the automotive sector, celebrating achievements in innovation, sustainability and excellence.

The criteria for the awards are meticulous, evaluating vehicles across various factors such as design, safety, performance, energy efficiency and value for money. The judging panel comprised automotive industry professionals, experts and media representatives, ensuring a transparent and comprehensive evaluation process.

EV, TEST DRIVE

5 things we don’t like about the BYD Seal

The electric vehicle (EV) market in Malaysia is heating up with the presence of various attractive models from all over the world.

The two EV brands currently hotly discussed are Tesla and BYD. The former made its mark in the local market with the launch of the facelifted Model 3 last October.

Meanwhile, the latter has introduced three EVs so far, with Seal being the latest offering to compete directly with the popular Model 3.

During a recent test drive, this writer found that the Seal has the right formula to go toe to toe with its closest rivals, but like most other cars, it still has some weaknesses.

Here are five things we don’t like about the Seal:

Two badges is one too many

For this writer, the Seal is one of the best looking cars, if not the best looking, in its segment. It has a sleek, sporty four-door sedan shape, which is further highlighted by strong character lines, 19-inch wheels, and a rear diffuser, to name a few.

However, BYD unnecessarily placed two ‘BYD’ badges at the rear – one in the centre and another in the bottom corner of the tailgate. The automaker also put a ‘3.8s’ badge under the ‘BYD Seal’ lettering to let the tailgaters know how fast this car can sprint from 0 to 100 km/j. This isn’t necessary and makes the Seal look cheap.

There’s a large panoramic roof, but…

The Seal comes standard with a large panoramic sunroof, which offers great views at night but can turn the cabin into a sauna during the day when the sun is directly overhead.

Surprisingly, the car lacks a power sunshade for the panoramic sunroof. Instead, BYD provides two piece of sunshades that have to be manually placed, which is quite annoying for a car costing nearly RM200,000.

Overly sophisticated controls

This writer is aware that in order to design a clutter-free, minimalist cabin, automakers try to minimise the amount of physical knobs and buttons as much as possible, and integrate the functions into the infotainment system.

But it needs to be said that not all vehicle functions need to be digitised. One good example is the air-conditioning system. In the Seal, even the AC vents adjustment is done via the large display. Sometimes, less is more.

Slow charging

Despite using a 800V architecture commonly found in luxury EV models, Seal only supports fast charging up to 150 kW, which lower than many other 800V EVs on the market.

For AC charging, the Malaysian-spec Seal can only support up to 7 kW, taking approximately 15 hours for a full charge, whereas in Europe, this model comes with an 11 kW AC charger.

Limited boot space

Despite its longer and wider dimensions compared to most C-segment sedans, Seal has a relatively small boot space of only 400 litres. There’s an additional 53-litre storage space under the bonnet but it’s not that spacious.

In comparison, the Model 3 has a whopping 682 litres of boot space while the B-segment sedan Honda City offers 519 litres of storage space in the back.

NEWS

BYD Seal received over 1,300 bookings in 4 days

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SIME Darby Motors (SDM) recently announced that it has received over 1,300 bookings for the BYD Seal within four days after its launch.

Due to the overwhelming demand for the electric sedan, SDM has extended its early booking campaign until 3 March 2024.

Through this campaign, customers who place a booking for the Seal through the official website or at BYD showrooms nationwide before the 3rd of March will receive a complimentary home charger and RM800 worth of Gentari/ChargEV charging credit.

Seal is offered in two variants, namely Premium and Performance, with prices starting at RM179,800 and RM199,800 respectively.

The Premium variant comes with a single electric motor on the rear axle producing 313 PS and 360 Nm, enabling it to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds.

Meanwhile, the Performance variant features a dual-motor configuration generating a total power of 530 PS and 670 Nm. With all-wheel drive (AWD), it only takes 3.8 seconds to accelerate from 0-100 km/h.

Both variants use the same 82.56 kWh LFP Blade battery but the Premium gets a driving range of 650 km while the more powerful Performance has 580 km of range. Both figures are based on the NEDC cycle.

NEWS

BYD Seal arrives in Malaysia – 2 variants, from RM180k

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AT long last, the BYD Seal hasbeen officially launched in the Malaysian market. It is the third BYD electric vehicle (EV) to be introduced into the country by Sime Darby Motors, following the Atto 3 and Dolphin.

For our market, the fully electric sedan from the Ocean Series lineup is offered in two variants, namely Premium and Performance, with prices starting at RM179,800 and RM199,800 respectively.

The Premium variant comes with a single electric motor on the rear axle producing 313 PS and 360 Nm, enabling it to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.9 seconds.

Meanwhile, the Performance variant features a dual-motor configuration generating a total power of 530 PS and 670 Nm. With all-wheel drive (AWD), it only takes 3.8 seconds to accelerate from 0-100 km/h.

Additionally, the range-topping variant is equipped with Intelligent Torque Adaption Control (iTAC) and Frequency Selective Damping (FSD) shock absorbers on the front and rear.

Both variants use the same 82.56 kWh LFP Blade battery but the Premium gets a driving range of 650 km while the more powerful Performance has 580 km of range. Both figures are based on the NEDC cycle.

For charging, the Seal comes standard with a 7 kW AC charger taking 15.2 hours for a 0-100% charge. It also supports DC fast charging up to 150 kW, capable of charging from 10% to 80% in 37 minutes.

The list of features between the two variants is somewhat similar. For the exterior, standard features include LED front and rear lights, LED daytime running lights, soundproof double-glazed glass for the windshield and front doors, and 19-inch alloy rims.

Malaysian buyers will be able to choose from four exterior colours – Cosmos White, Aurora White, Atlantis Grey, and Arctic Blue. However, Arctic Blue is exclusive to the Performance variant.

Inside, you will find leather upholstery, eight-way power-adjustable and four-way lumbar support for the driver’s seat, heating and ventilation for the front seats, dual-zone air conditioning, and a PM2.5 air filtration system in both variants.

The infotainment system includes a 15.6-inch rotating touchscreen, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, two wireless chargers, four USB ports, and a Dynaudio audio system with 12 speakers.

The driver assistance system is the same for both variants, consisting of Adaptive Cruise Control, Automatic Emergency Braking, Lane Departure Warning, Lane Departure Prevention, Emergency Lane Keeping Assist, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Blind Spot Detection, among others.

The Seal comes with a six-year/150,000 km vehicle warranty, an eight-year/160,000 km battery warranty, and an eight-year/150,000 km drive unit warranty.

To sweeten the deal, the first 800 buyers will receive a free wallbox charger and RM800 worth of Gentari/ChargEV charging credits.