🇨🇳 BYD SEAL U • Czy jest warty uwagi?• 🇵🇱 4K • Auto Made in China

BYD is a brand that, as its name suggests, "Build Your Dreams," was meant to inspire dreams, and it continues to do so. It's one of the largest automakers in China. By 2023, the company achieved a 37% market share there, and its international expansion stretches from New Zealand and Australia to Colombia and Chile, and into Asian and European markets. Sales of electric vehicles alone exceeded 3 million units last year, and 7 million overall. And it all began with building batteries for consumer electronics manufacturers. Just like Tesla, only many years earlier. The company launched in 1995, and in 2003, it decided to leverage its battery expertise to build its own electric vehicles – buses and passenger cars. The impetus for its development came from the years 2013-2017 and subsidies from the Chinese government. This helped it develop its own technologies and create its own image and style. Wolfgang Egger, who was hired as the brand's chief designer and had previously worked for Alfa Romeo, Audi, and SEAT, among others, helped achieve this. The next major breakthrough came just a few years ago. BYD developed its own LFP battery design, called the "Blade Battery," which it successfully sells to other manufacturers. They can be found in Toyota, Tesla, Ford, and General Motors vehicles, among others. At the same time, the brand created its own e-Platform 3.0 platform for building electric cars, on which its latest models are built. Today, BYD has 30 development parks on six continents. It sells cars worldwide and, in addition to electric cars, has developed Dual-Motor hybrid technology. It owns four passenger car brands (BYD, Denza, Fangchengbao, and Yangwang), a joint venture with Toyota, and produces dozens of different bus and passenger car models. In Europe alone, it has 261 showrooms and has announced the construction of its first passenger car factory in Hungary. Three of them have just officially arrived in Poland. These are the smallest and most affordable compact BYD Dolphin (C-segment hatchback), the BYD Seal sedan (D-segment), and the BYD Seal U mid-size SUV (D-segment). But the real hit will be the car that will debut a little later, the Seal U DM-i, a plug-in hybrid. And it is precisely this vehicle that has arrived for our tests. Electric and Hybrid The BYD Seal U is a 5-seater D-segment SUV, measuring 4.8 meters in length. In its electric version, this Tesla Model 3 competitor, like the sedan, has a 313-horsepower engine and rear-wheel drive or a more powerful 530-horsepower AWD drivetrain. The car is available in two trim levels: the Comfort version with a 71.8 kWh battery offers a range of 420 km, while the Design version with an 87 kWh battery offers a range of 500 km (WLTP). The SUV is priced at PLN 190,000 or PLN 203,000. The BYD Seal U DM-i PHEV hybrid version has a 140 hp 1.5-liter turbocharged combustion engine and an 18.3 kWh battery. And the electric motor? Typically, a 197 hp e-motor powers the front wheels (the 4x4 version powers the front wheels with a 204 hp e-motor, and the rear wheels with a 163 hp motor). The total range is over 800 km. All vehicles are covered by a 6-year warranty limited to 150,000 kilometers. Test vehicle: BYD Seal U DM-i PHEV AWD with 325 hp and 550 Nm