New BYD electric sedan coming soon, here’s why the Qin L EV may debut in Malaysia as Seal 6

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 — BYD Qin L EV is coming soon to Malaysia. This is based on the new teaser that BYD Sime Motors has published on BYD Cars Malaysia’s social media pages last night.

The teaser showed the rear section of the car, but even though it was masked, the design lines of the taillight were left intact. After a quick comparison with vehicles on BYD China’s website, it is quite clear that we are looking at the BYD Qin L EV.

However, the number “6” is also prominently shown on the background of the teaser. So, we don’t think the Qin L EV will be released in Malaysia with its original name.  

The revelation has essentially nullified our prediction that the new model is going to be Sealion 6 DM-I, which is a PHEV. Our prediction was mainly based on the fact that Sealion 6 DM-I has been released in Thailand and Singapore – two markets that we usually take as indicators for future product releases in Malaysia.

We overlooked Qin L EV because it has no number “6” in its name. In addition to that, Qin L EV was never announced for the international market.

BYD Sime Motors shared a teaser of the BYD Qin L EV on social media on September 11, 2025. — SoyaCincau pic

We do have Seal 6 DM-i and Seal 6 DM-i Touring on our radar at that time as well. Both models have just been launched in Europe, but it was unclear whether BYD would release a right-hand drive (RHD) version.

Ultimately, this showed that BYD is still focusing on battery-powered EVs (BEVs) when it comes to the Malaysian market.

The company likely has the intention to take full advantage of the import and excise duty exemptions on fully-imported, Completely Built-Up (CBU) BEVs right until it concludes on 31 December 2025.

The Seal 6 DM-i and Seal 6 DM-i Touring were launched for the European market. — SoyaCincau pic

As you may have heard, BYD is gearing up to kick-start its Completely Knocked-Down (CKD) local assembly operation in Tanjung Malim next year. Perhaps, only then will BYD consider releasing non-BEV products into our market.

Why would BYD rebrand Qin L EV to Seal 6 EV?

In China, BYD’s passenger vehicle line-up is generally divided into two series: Dynasty and Ocean. The Qin L EV belonged to the Dynasty series, as the car was named after the Qin imperial dynasty.

If you look at the BYD Dynasty series products that have made their way to Malaysia, none of them have retained their original China Domestic Market’s (CDM) name. For example, Atto 3’s original name was actually Yuan Plus, while Atto 2 was called Yuan Up over in China.

As for the naming, Seal is already an established name in the electric sedan segment in Malaysia, as it is the most popular electric sedan in the country. So, renaming it as Seal 6 makes a lot of sense – similar to how the popularity of Atto 3 in the electric SUV market set the tone for Atto 2.

Isn’t there already a Seal 6 EV?

Now, here’s another interesting fact: there is already a model called Seal 06 EV in China, and it is also a mid-size electric sedan. At a glance, both models even looked almost the same from the outside, although they do feature different front and rear designs.

The teaser from BYD Sime Motors clearly showed that the car they are going to introduce in Malaysia is the Qin L EV. As for why BYD didn’t just bring over the Seal 06 EV as a whole, it is a mystery, but then again, both models were so identical to each other and were built using the same e-Platform 3.0 Evo.

BYD Qin L EV quick specs

In China, the Qin L EV comes in two main variants, although both of them feature a rear-wheel drive (RWD) setup. The base model featured a 110kW (148hp) electric motor that also produces 220Nm of torque.

Powered by a 46.08kWh BYD Blade LFP battery, the base variant of Qin L EV can deliver up to 470km of CLTC-rated range. That is equivalent to 385km of range if you convert that figure to the WLTP standards.

The Qin L EV comes in two main variants in China, but both of them feature a rear-wheel drive setup. — SoyaCincau pic

The Qin L EV can also be obtained with a 56.64kWh BYD Blade LFP battery, which also has a more powerful 160kW (215hp) electric motor with 330Nm of torque. Naturally, this variant can offer more CLTC-rated range at 545km or around 447km under WLTP standards.

Charging-wise, the base variant supports a DC charging speed of 84kW, which allows it to be charged from 30 – 80 per cent in 24 minutes. On the other hand, the long-range variant has a slightly faster DC charging speed of up to 103kW, but since it has a larger capacity battery, it still takes 24 minutes to charge the car from 30 – 80 per cent.

Both variants were equipped with 7kW AC charging, although we do hope that BYD consider upgrading the module to 11kW for the Malaysian variant. Qin L EV also comes with a 6kW Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) functionality.

Other notable features of the Qin L EV also include God’s Eye C (DiPilot 100) Advanced Driver Assistance System, 17-inch wheels,  8.8-inch digital instrument cluster, 12.8-inch infotainment screen, and a 6-speaker audio system.

BYD has also recently added a third variant for the Qin L EV, which has the same battery and motor as the long-range model but is also equipped with DiSus-C intelligent damping body control system and TBC high-speed puncture stabilisation system. This variant also features several other upgrades, including 18-inch wheels, red brake callipers, a head-up display, a 15.6-inch infotainment screen, an 8-speaker audio system, a 50W wireless charger with air cooling, and a smart cooler/heater box. — SoyaCincau