Louth Motoring: BYD Seal is launched

We now have the third car, following the ATTO3 and the Dolphin, from the biggest electric car company you've never heard of.

That advertising tag line will probably be the shortest-lived tagline ever. Since their arrival in Ireland only last April, the Chinese manufacture has notched up sales of 540 cars only three behind Nissan who were once the pioneers in the electric space.

This year after just one month the Seal, just launched, is the third best-selling electric car in Ireland and so are BYD overall.

Now I've heard of early adopters, but this is some serious embrace by Irish buyers who must have all ordered the car undriven.

That's some selling power BYD has the likes of which I've only seen before for the iPhone and Cabbage Patch Dolls.

The frenzy for the Seal isn't hard to understand. It is very fetching and has the Tesla Model 3 firmly as its target market.

It looks terribly similar to a few cars like the Ionic6, the Taycan and the soon to be here facelifted Model 3.

It's an accusation levelled at the Chinese that they copy other manufacturers, but that argument falls a bit short when you look at the ATTO3 which is unlike anything else around.

A friend pointed out that the Seal was designed by the man who gave us the Alfa Romeo 8C, to me the best-looking car every to grace a road, Wolfgang Egger. Google his pedigree and career as he is a really big hitter.

The headlines for the Seal are that there are two trim levels, 2WD and AWD variants, 570km range, 0-100km/h in 3.8 (AWD) or 5.9 (2WD) and it will take 26minutes to charge from 30% to 80% - whatever happened to the 20% to 80% benchmark?

It's a sleek 5-seater with a 400litre boot and 53litre frunk – think charging cables storage.

The standout immediate impression is the quality of the interior.

This isn't about building a reputation this is about breaking reputations and the Seal's interior is one of the best I've experiences in a new car.

Others need to take note, and quickly.

I'll be undertaking a full review here shortly but by then a lot of you will probably already have plunged and bought one when the pricing starts at just €44,036 after grants etc.

BYD are doing a Conor McGregor – they are not here to take part; they are here to takeover.