BYD Seal 6 DM-1 Variant — 2,000 Kilometer Range, $15,340. Anybody Want One?

BYD keeps flooding the zone with new models. It now has a plug-in vehicle for just about every price range and keeps adding more. The latest goodie from Shenzhen is the Seal 6 DM-1 Variant, a 4.8 meter (16 foot) long plug-in hybrid wagon with up to 2000 km (1240 mi) of total range using the generous Chinese standard.

Inside, the BYD Seal 6 DM-1 can carry 5 passengers with 670 liters (23 cu ft) of room for their stuff. With the rear seat folded, cargo capacity jumps to 1535 liters (54  cu ft) To put that in perspective, the Chevy Equinox EV has 26.4 cubic feet of cargo room with the second row seatback up and 57.2 cubic feet with it down. The car will be available in three trim levels starting at $15,320 with a 10 kWh battery.

The fifth generation BYD plug-in hybrid system has a 1.5 liter naturally aspirated engine with 74 kW (99 hp) that is paired with a 120 kW (161 hp) electric motor. It can reach 100 km/h in 8.7 seconds and uses 3.15 liters of fuel every 100 km, which translates to about 74 mpg. Battery only range is about 80 km (50 mi).

A second powertrain option uses the same engine but adds a more powerful 160 kW (215 hp) electric motor and an 18.7 kWh battery. That combination slices a full second off the 0 to 100 km/h run and increases the battery-only range to about 150 km (90 mi). The BYD Blade battery can be charged from 30 to 80 percent in 25 minutes.. Because this version is heavier, its fuel consumption is 4.25 liters per 100 km or about 55 mpg. Those numbers would probably be about a third lower in the EPA rating scheme, but that’s irrelevant since this car is never coming to the US.

BYD Seal 6 DM-1 Specs

According to Car News China, the BYD Seal 6 DM-1 Variant comes standard with a 12.8-inch screen, an 8.8-inch LCD instrument cluster, six speakers, six airbags, LED headlights, plus heated and ventilated front seats. It is also equipped with BYD’s God’s Eye C — otherwise known as DiPilot 100 — driver  assistance system, which uses 12 cameras, 5 mm wave radars, and 12 ultrasonic radars. The “100” number indicates the system’s computing power in trillion operations per second (TOPS). God’s Eye C is capable of navigating on autopilot on limited access highways.

In top of the line trim. the BYD Seal 06 DM-i Variant comes with a larger 15.6 inch screen, eight speakers, and seven airbags. It also is equipped with the BYD DiSus-C damping system that enhances riding comfort with fast acting solenoid valves that adjust in milliseconds to changing road conditions.

Prices for the BYD Seal 06 DM-i Variant are as follows:

• BYD Seal 06 DM-i wagon 80 km Noble — 109,800 yuan ($15,320)
• BYD Seal 06 DM-i wagon 150 km Exclusive — 119,800 yuan ($16,720)
• BYD Seal 06 DM-i wagon 150 km Flagship — 129,800 yuan (18,115 )

Thoughts On Variants

There was a time when every suburban home in America had a station wagon parked in the driveway. They were just production sedans with the roof extended backwards to the rear bumper and were fantastic for car pools and hauling stuff from Point A to Point B. The tradition dates back to the iconic Ford “woodie” so popular with surfers before the Volkswagen Transporter came along.

Some called these cars beach wagons, others called they ranch wagons, but they were all really large vehicles that could swallow enormous amounts of stuff or sleep two on blow up mattresses. American Motors started the trend for “fold back seats” immortalized by Carly Simon as she sang about her former lover camping out “by the lakes and forests” with his new squeeze.

Such vehicles are sometimes called a “shooting brake” in Jollye Olde Englande or a “variant” on the Continent. America’s love affair with the station wagon has waned over the years, replaced first by minivans and later by SUV lust. Personally, I was always smitten with the assortment of midsize wagons from Volvo, Volkswagen, and BMW. For a while, I thought my prefect car would be a Volkswagen Passat TDI wagon with a 6 speed transmission. I was actively searching for one when the news about Dieselgate broke.

The BYD Seal 6 DM-1 is really a derivation of those iconic American wagons like the Ford LTD Country Squire, which was really just an extended roof version of the LTD sedan. The DM-1 is just an extended roof version of the Seal 6 sedan.

Why a wagon? That’s an interesting question. They are virtually nonexistent in US but have a loyal following in Europe. In China, most customers prefer an SUV, so why is BYD putting resources into the wagon version of the Seal 6? The answer, in a word, is aerodynamics. A wagon is a little slipperier than an SUV. In the world of EVs — which includes plug-in hybrids — aerodynamic efficiency is a critical consideration.

That poses a conundrum for manufacturers. Customers want the taller, less efficient cars; automakers want the slipperiest cars possible so they can advertise range estimates that are higher than the competition. While some Chinese customers may choose a wagon, it is possible BYD is really focused on selling the DM-1 in Europe.

BYD Has Its Eye On The Future

The company will begin producing cars in Hungary this fall and is constructing a second factory in Turkey. According to the latest news reports, it is currently exploring options for a third European factory. Vehicles made in those factories will be exempt from the tariffs the European Union imposes on cars imported from China. That, in turn, should give it a significant advantage over its fellow Chinese manufacturers in the European market. Does BYD plan to assemble the DM-1 in Europe? If so, they could be chasing a sweet spot in the market.

As my colleague Jose Pontes noted recently, “PHEVs are pushing the[European] market upwards, jumping 48% YoY in May. That’s PHEVs’ highest growth rate in over three years. They were spearheaded by the #3 BYD Seal U PHEV (aka euro-spec BYD Song PHEV), while the two automotive juggernauts Volkswagen and Toyota also helped things along thanks to the #12 VW Tiguan PHEV and #14 Toyota C-HR PHEV, respectively. PHEVs scored close to 110,000 sales in May, and their YTD numbers are now up 18% to 478,000 units.”

At CleanTechnica, we have mixed feelings about plug-in hybrids. We tend to think of them as a gateway to battery electric cars. Their drivers get used to plugging them in, the peacefulness of driving on electrons instead of molecules, and the experience of one pedal driving thanks to regenerative braking. On the other hand, the price of the car pays for two powertrains and the owner is still saddled with all the burdens of maintaining a combustion engine and transmission.

The equalizer, of course, is a PHEV blows away any fears about running out of battery power or searching for a charging station on a stormy night far from home. Apparently, that last part is the deciding factor for many. We BEV drivers tend to pooh pooh all that range anxiety stuff because we drive our electric cars every day and know that range anxiety is really much less of a concern that people make it out to be.

But if you are putting your own money on the line, and are afraid of the unknown, a plug-in hybrid is a way to hedge your bets. We know that people buy on emotion and justify their decision later with facts. Based on the sales data, there are a lot of people who are just not willing to make the leap to a battery electric driving just yet. BYD has a keen eye for where the market is headed and seems poised to get out ahead of the surge in PHEV sales. Good for them.

To my eye, the Seal 6 DM-1 is a nicely styled midsize wagon with lots of features. If I could buy one in the US for $20,000 I would probably be on my way to my local BYD dealer right now. But there are no BYD dealers in the US, more’s the pity.