BYD Cars Malaysia Teases New Model – Sea Lion 07 Coming Soon?

BYD Cars Malaysia has published a new teaser image of an upcoming model. Could it be the Sea Lion 07 EV?

The local EV market space is about to get more interesting (or saturated, depending on who you ask), as BYD Cars Malaysia has published a new teaser image of an upcoming model.

Published via its official Facebook page, said teaser image depicts a sea lion swimming in the ocean with a text that reads, “performance SUV with premium styling.” Given these clues, we can confidently say that the upcoming model would be the BYD Sea Lion 07, which made its global debut last year at the Auto Guangzhou 2023 motor show.

The BYD Sea Lion 07 belongs to the same 'Ocean Series' EV lineup as the BYD Seal EV saloon.

Positioned as BYD’s midsize EV SUV crossover model, the Sea Lion 07 is essentially a crossover version of the marque’s sporty midsize saloon, the BYD Seal. As part of BYD’s ‘Ocean Series’ model, it comes as no surprise that the Sea Lion 07 boasts the same ‘Ocean Aesthetic’ design language as the Seal EV saloon.

Other design highlights present here include a sporty coupe-style roofline that ends rakishly at its tailgate full-width LED taillights design at the rear with a faux rear diffuser, and many more.

Dimension-wise, the BYD Sea Lion 07 measures 4,830 MM long, 1,925 MM wide, 1,620 MM tall, and a wheelbase of 2,930 MM, thus slotting it perfectly in the burgeoning D-segment EV SUV marketspace, which sees the recent additions such as the Leapmotor C10 and the Xpeng G6.

The China-spec BYD Sea Lion 07 boasts up to 523 HP of total system output and 610 KM of EV range.

On the mechanical front, the Sea Lion 07 underpins the same BYD e-Platform 3.0 Evo as the recently-updated BYD Seal, at least in both Chinese and European markets. Featuring the same cell-to-body (CTB) technology with an 800-volt battery architecture, the China-spec Sea Lion 07 is offered with either a 71.8-kWh or an 80.64-kWh LFP battery, with the latter offering a maximum EV range of up to 610 KM, according to the lenient CLTC standard at least.

Powertrain-wise, the Sea Lion 07 is offered with three powertrain options, with the two rear-wheel-driven (RWD) models featuring outputs of up to 228 HP (170 kW) and 308 HP (230 kW), respectively. Meanwhile, the top-spec dual-motor AWD model gets the highest total system output of up to 523 HP (390 kW), allowing a century sprint time of only 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 214 KM/H.

Besides peppy powertrain options, the Sea Lion 07 also benefits from BYD’s proprietary DiSus-C intelligent damping body control system that features an adaptive suspension system that promises to offer a good balance of comfort and performance.

Still on the tech front, the Sea Lion 07 is also one of the few BYD models to feature the brand’s proprietary DiPilot 100 ADAS suite. This setup features 12 ultrasonic radar units, five millimetre-wave radar units, and 11 cameras that all work in tandem to provide Level 2 assisted driving, on top of ADAS functions like lane keep assist (LKA), adaptive cruise control (ACC), lane departure warning (LDW), and many more.

So folks, what do you think of the BYD Sea Lion 07? Could this sporty SUV crossover be the next model to topple down the Tesla Model Y’s domination in the local midsize EV SUV market space? As always, don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments down below…