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The Tesla Model Y rival won’t go on sale with the longest-range variant offered overseas, but the brand's Australian boss says it hasn’t dampened enthusiasm for the new electric SUV.
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Australians won’t be able to buy the 2025 BYD Sealion 7 with its largest battery offered overseas when it arrives in February, it has been confirmed – but the local importer says that won’t stop it becoming the brand’s best-selling electric vehicle.
The BYD Sealion 7 is an electric SUV aimed at the Tesla Model Y and will sit above the popular Sealion 6 plug-in hybrid SUV in the Australian BYD line-up, with a price starting from less than $60,000 before on-road costs.
It’s one of a number of new BYD models arriving here in 2025, headlined by the imminent BYD Shark 6 dual-cab ute which is set to challenge Australia’s best-selling vehicle of 2024, the Ford Ranger.
While a 91.3kWh ‘Blade’ lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery is available elsewhere, BYD has confirmed observations by Drive in government homologation documents that the largest set for Australia is a smaller 82.5kWh pack.
The bigger battery is offered in the UK where it gives the flagship all-wheel drive Sealion 7 a 502km WLTP range rating, and 18-minute, 230kW fast charging.
When fitted with the smaller 82.5kWh pack – and using the same all-wheel drive layout – driving range falls to 456km (WLTP) while fast-charging takes 24 minutes at up to 150kW.
This effectively matches the quoted 455km WLTP range of the standard Tesla Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive sold in Australia, but a long-range Model Y is also in showrooms rated for up to 533km of driving.
Australian Sealion 7 buyers will only have the one battery available, with UK models revealing its best range of 483km in rear-wheel-drive, entry-level form – likely to be marketed locally as the Premium.
“The configuration … we choose what’s available, what’s best for [the] market,’ David Smitherman, CEO of EVDirect, the Australian importer of BYD vehicles, told Drive, confirming the 82.5kWh battery.
It is understood the 82.5kWh pack and 150kW charging rule out any chance of a newer 'e-Platform 3.0 Evo' electrical system offered on Chinese-market versions coming to Australia.
The 82.5kWh battery is the same size as the biggest pack currently available in the related BYD Seal electric sedan locally.
“We've had a lot of success with Seal,” Mr Smitherman said.
“Seal’s really taken the market by storm in a fairly small segment, right? We've been inundated with enquiry on Sealion 7, so I don't think that [battery size] is an issue at all.”
“It comes down to what’s available, and then the spec … and that'll be cannily priced … I'm expecting that [Sealion 7] to be our number one selling EV [electric vehicle].”
In the UK, the entry-level Sealion 7 – with the 82.5kWh battery and rear-wheel drive – is priced similarly to the BYD Seal Premium, which in Australia is $58,798 before on-road costs.
BYD was beaten by Tesla as the world’s most best-selling electric-car brand globally in 2024 despite the US auto giant posting a decline in sales.
As well as launching the Sealion 7 and Shark 6 dual-cab ute in 2025, the BYD Denza B5 – a Toyota LandCruiser Prado rival – may also be on its way to Australian showrooms, with the Atto 3 Up small electric SUV another possibility.
BYD also showed off the Yangwang U8 luxury off-roader in Australia in late 2024, suggesting it is also a candidate for the local line-up.
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