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Wait.. seagul is our dolphin surf. So plans are already underway to replace it barely a year after launching locally? ShooooweeeeeeBYD's smallest urban runabout is about to grow bigger
The original hot hatchback philosophy never had anything to do with raw horsepower - but everything to do with chucking a light, squared-off box through tight city roundabouts. When the BYD Seagull first arrived in early 2023, it captured that exact pocket-sized cheeky essence. It showed up on the scene as a compact, sub-four-meter city car built with a focus on affordable, everyday electric commuting. Drivers embraced its pinpoint turning radius, and BYD went on to sell more than 1.5 million units across thirty-odd months.
Unfortunately, in the hyper-competitive Chinese auto market, cars have the shelf life of fresh sushi. After selling 529,537 units in 2025 alone, the Seagull hit a wall. After 12 months of year-on-year sales slumps chipped away at its dominance, with volume down by 37.50% across the first eight months of this year. An August uptick to 36,106 deliveries suggested a revival, but it was too little too late - BYD decided that a mid-cycle nip and tuck was not going to cut it.
Official design sketches released by Zhang Zhuo, general manager of BYD's Ocean series, reveal a complete overhaul that abandons the pint-sized proportions of the original. The teasers show a way more aggressive machine with chiseled surfaces, angular trident-style headlamps, and a sharply rising beltline that meets a floating roofline. In internal development circles, whispers had long pegged this project under the affectionate working title of the "Big Seagull." Now confirmed for a launch this year, the sketches leave zero doubt: BYD's feisty entry-level hatch is shedding its baby fat in favor of a grown-up, broad-shouldered look.
According to regulatory filings with China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the second-generation Seagull is 4,205 mm long, 1,810 mm wide, and 1,570 mm tall, with a 2,650 mm wheelbase. The newcomer is 425 mm longer overall and rides on a platform with 150 mm of extra wheelbase compared to the outgoing model. Adding nearly half a meter of metal between bumpers is a full-blown promotion into a different vehicle class.
Every single millimeter of that newfound footprint pays back inside the cabin. The original Seagull was a strict four-seater, which limited its appeal for growing households, but the second-generation model gains a fifth seatbelt. That revision transforms the car from a student commuter or second runabout into a do-it-all primary family car. You also gain rear legroom and enough trunk capacity to swallow luggage without playing Tetris.
The previous generation's rather modest 55 kW motor was perfectly adequate for darting between traffic lights, but it ran out of puff on open motorways. The new car fixes that deficit by having a permanent magnet synchronous motor delivering 95 kW, equivalent to 127 hp. That output is not going to set the drag strip on fire, but it should be enough to give this enlarged hatchback a decent punch needed for confident highway overtakes.
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BYD's smallest urban runabout is about to grow bigger
BYD is transforming its budget-friendly city car into a larger, more powerful five-seater hatchback packed with LiDAR technology to reignite falling sales.www.arenaev.com
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Yeah, cars aren't these wonderful things with five year lifecycles. These days they're more like cellphones, with new variants released every year. Don't worry about the depreciation, I don't think anyone will care if you're driving the BYD Dolphin 1.2x, 1.6b or 1.7h.Wait.. seagul is our dolphin surf. So plans are already underway to replace it barely a year after launching locally? Shooooweeeeee
Yes & China Speed bro. We spoke about it in another thread.Wait.. seagul is our dolphin surf. So plans are already underway to replace it barely a year after launching locally? Shooooweeeeee
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