New BYD Dolphin Surf bound for UK as sub-£20k EV

The BYD Dolphin Surf will be one of the cheapest electric cars in the UK when it goes on sale later this year.

Known simply as the Seagull in China, where it costs the equivalent of around £8000, the model will be made more sophisticated for its launch in Europe and the UK, including added safety technology.

BYD’s executive vice-president Stella Li said that while the Dolphin Surf might “not be the cheapest” on sale, it would “be the best value”.

It’s not expected to cost less than the £15,000 Dacia Spring, the current cheapest electric car on sale, but is likely to undercut the likes of the Fiat Grande Panda and Citroën ë-C3 and cost less than £20,000 with a range in excess of 200 miles, too.

In China, it’s offered with a choice of 30kWh or 38kWh battery packs, giving ranges of 190 miles and 252 miles, according to the country’s CLTC testing regime. There is also a choice of 74bhp and 100bhp motors.

The model is also known as the Dolphin Mini in some markets, but Dolphin Surf has been chosen as the name for launch in the UK and Europe.

Before the Dolphin Surf will be the imminent launch of the Sealion 7, the seventh model in BYD’s UK range and the sixth electric car.

UK country manager Bono Ge said BYD would go from 62 dealers now to 120 by the end of the year. The target is around 150-170 dealers longer term, a number similar to the likes of Ford and Vauxhall.

Ge said BYD would surpass last year’s UK sales of 8700 by the end of this month, but declined to say how many cars the company expected to sell in 2025, or what the long-term target was.

Given BYD’s goal is to be the world’s largest car maker and the UK is seen as a key market for it, sales in excess of 100,000 will surely be the target to become a top-five challenger here. Ge said BYD’s brand awareness increased from 1% at the start of 2024 to 31% at the end of it.

BYD has also launched its own-brand 1360kW chargers with two charging guns as a rival to Tesla’s Supercharger network. Li said there was an ambition to launch these in the UK but that this was some way off.