More than a year after unveiling BYD Seal at Auto Expo 2023, Chinese carmaker BYD has rolled out the electric sedan in India. The e-sedan will be available in three variants -Dynamic, Premium and Performance - and will carry an ex-showroom price of Rs 41 lakh, Rs 45.5 lakh and Rs 53 lakh, respectively. The company has already started accepting bookings.
Positioned as BYD's flagship EV in India, BYD Seal will be the company’s third offering after EV6 e-MPV and Atto3 e-SUV. Unlike the other two models, the battery-powered sedan will be imported as a completely built unit (CBU) from its Chinese facilities into the country. The Shenzhen-based car manufacturer has no mid-term plans to assemble this model in India.
Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, Senior Vice President of Electric Passenger Vehicle Business of BYD India, told Moneycontrol, “We launched this model as we wanted to carve our niche in the electric sports sedan segment and wanted the consumers to experience the technologies that this model has.”
While unveiling the model, the Chinese carmaker revealed that Seal EV is based on the all-new BYD e-platform 3.0, which is specifically designed for pure battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The model is armed with the world’s first Cell-to-Body (CTB) and iTAC (Intelligent Torque Adaptation Control) technologies, as per the company's claims.
The company also revealed that Dynamic, Premium and Performance variants have a claimed range of 510 km, 650 km and 580 km per charge respectively (as per WLTP standards). While there are no electric sedans in the country, BYD Seal globally competes with Tesla Model 3.
Gopalakrishnan refrained from sharing any sales target for this model. “I cannot talk about the numbers. With this price point, you know the competition. We hope that we will continue to be the leader in the premium EV segment priced at (Rs) 30 lakh and above," he said.
Upbeat on India's booming EV market
As it strengthens leadership position in category of EVs priced above Rs 30 lakh, the carmaker also aims to cover 90 percent of the battery-run passenger vehicle (PV) market in India by the end of the year.
"As we intend to cover 90 percent of the EV market in India, we are expanding our presence in major towns and tier I cities,” stated Gopalakrishnan. BYD wants to position itself as a “Pure EV Player” in the country and has no plans to bring in Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV), he added.
When asked about the evolution of the market, Gopalakrishnan said, “In the next five to six years, customers will get used to the transition to BEVs (battery electric vehicles). Most of the challenges like range anxiety and charging infrastructure will be resolved.”
While acknowledging that the green shoots for EVs have already emerged in India, he stated, “The smartphone market was also like that. Once it reached a particular threshold level, it really shot up. Similarly, after a certain level of inflection point of say 5-7 percent (EV penetration in PVs), the electric car market will also shoot up. At present, we are at 2.5 percent.”
On plans to launch sub-Rs 30 lakh e-cars such as Dolphin e-hatchback in the country, Gopalakrishnan said, “Let the (EV) market develop, we will come back with suitable plans for suitable products.” However, he maintained, “We have a global range of products and as per the market requirements, we will come back.”
Meanwhile, BYD is working out modalities to achieve homologation certification from ARAI for its Atto 3 which will lift the restriction on import volume of 2,500 units.
It is to be mentioned that homologation is the process of certifying vehicles for roadworthiness under rules specified by the government for all vehicles made or imported into the country.
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