BYD Sea Lion 07 at Guangzhou auto show

The BYD Sea Lion 07 electric SUV will be unveiled at the Guangzhou auto show which starts with a media day on November 17 and includes public days on November 20-26.

The Sea Lion is based on BYD’s e-Platform 3.0 and is expected to compete with the Tesla Model Y, CnEVPost reports.

The global debut of BYD’s new Ocean series model  (joining the Dolphin, Seal and Seagull) was announced on the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) company’s WeChat site which showed some Sea Lion 07 designs.

The Guangzhou show in the Canton Fair Complex will have about 1132 vehicles – 469 of them NEVs (EVs), reports suggest.

Brands exhibiting include Audi, BMW, Honda, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Volvo, and a range of Chinese automotive manufacturers.

BYD reportedly sold 301,833 NEVs in October.

The brand has recently featured in EVs and Beyond.

BYD Auto New Zealand brand manager Warren Willmot says the Sea Lion will join the local line-up before the end of 2024.

He says seven or eight BYD models will be in the line-up by then with e-vans coming in 2025.

Willmot says BYD plans to have a “Super PHEV ute” here by the end of Q1 next year, Seal demonstration EVs arriving December this year with customer deliveries starting January 2024, and perhaps another model coming soon.

He says BYD will “have a vehicle for every Kiwi”.