Are driving enthusiast thrills only limited to the sedan body style? The BYD Sealion 7, BYD’s fourth model for India, aims to bust that myth.
Ever since the BYD Seal arrived in India around a year ago, it was a clear statement on the strides Chinese carmakers have taken in recent times, as it offers impressive value as an electric sports sedan than not only looks handsome, but also gets a boatload of tech, and fun dynamic capabilities while also offering a healthy dose of range in the process. That being said, the sedan body style isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, and some prefer a bigger stature for a similar kind of experience, especially in a country like India where SUVs are the talk of town. Well, BYD listened and brought over the BYD Sealion 7 to India as their fourth product for the country.
One wouldn’t necessarily put SUV and driving enthusiast thrills in the same sentence, but can the Sealion 7 offer the best of both worlds without compromise? We got this electric sports SUV out of the confines of indoor halls at Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025 and got to experience it around the scenic environment of Jaipur.
At a glance, the BYD Sealion 7 grabs attention without needing any flashy bits as it looks minimalist, yet elegant with all the curves in the right places, with the flush-fit door handles adding to the seamless look. Thanks to BYD’s Ocean Series design language, you get some of the eye-catching bits from the Seal such as the low-slung face with sleek lighting and the connected LED tail lamps. It’s only when you’re up close and personal with it, you notice its rather long profile, with a length spanning over 4.8 metres! Even though this is an electric SUV, there is a hint of coupé in it with a nice sloping roofline that flows nicely towards the tail gate, complemented by a rear spoiler to give it a sporty personality.
The familiarity to the Seal doesn’t end and it’s not a bad thing either as you enter a premium cabin with the materials and fit and finish feeling pretty top notch, a panoramic glass roof giving off that spacious ambience, and Nappa leather upholstery on the seats adding to that premium experience. Also, to really accentuate its a sporty electric SUV, the front seats look quite sporty. To round things off the ergonomics are largely sorted with a nice tactile feeling on every button or switch inside.
A rotating touchscreen is traditional by BYD, but this 15.6-inch unit on the Sealion 7 does a lot more than that, apart from the obvious wireless smartphone connectivity. It includes head-up display settings, detailed aspects of the HVAC controls, ADAS sensitivity and even lock or unlock the car. That being said, having more physical controls for HVAC would’ve been ideal as it can get a little distracting for the driver. There’s no dearth of features onboard including a 10.25-inch digital driver’s display that displays all the necessary information, Type-A and Type-C charging ports front and rear, a premium 12-speaker audio system, 128 colours for the ambient lighting, powered and ventilated front seats with even powered underthigh extensions for the driver’s seat, as well as a heating function for the rear windshield and ORVMs.
Since this is an electric SUV, it ticks the practicality aspect too with a 500-litre boot, more than enough for your weekend getaways or heavy-duty hotel runs, a 58-litre frunk, many cup-holders, decent space in the door pockets, a chunky centre tunnel, a fairly deep storage space underneath the front centre armrest as well as dedicated storage space behind the front seats for phones or smaller items. Another SUV aspect ticked off is the comfort and space factor as the seats are nicely bolstered and keep you pretty snug; especially for a particular scenario I’ll mention a little later. For the rear occupants, there’s plenty of room to stretch comfortably in with more than adequate headroom even for those six feet and above. The only real gripe is the less-than-ideal underthigh support.
The BYD Sealion 7 comes with two powertrain options, the Premium variant that gets a Premium variant gets a 313-hp (230-kW) and 380-Nm RWD powertrain and the top-of-the-line Performance variant, packing a 530-hp (390-kW) and 690-Nm AWD powertrain, pretty much the same setup you get on the Seal. We got behind the wheel of the Performance variant and its sporty credentials are no joke. Their 0-100 km/h sprint claim in 4.5 seconds very much holds true as the seats were snug enough to keep me planted to the seat in such quick scenarios but that’s not the most impressive part. Through all these quick 0-100 km/h runs, there was not a single hint of the Sealion 7 breaking traction or losing any sense of control. It remains impressively planted throughout. Amongst the Eco Normal and Sport driving modes, of course the Sport mode is the one to be at for the most fun stuff, but even in Eco mode, you can be sinking into the headrest.
Despite it being an SUV, the double-wishbone front and multi-link rear suspension setup do a fine job to offer impressive handling dynamics despite it weighing over two tonnes. It feels absolutely planted while attacking corners, helped by the firm suspension set up, and the weighted steering wheel gives a sense of confidence while also not being a hindrance navigating through city roads. It soaks up most road imperfections without a hassle with very low NVH levels keeping most of the outside chaos in check. The only real gripe here is that the brakes don’t feel very powerful especially at the end of the pedal travel, so one would heed caution in emergency braking scenarios.
While the ADAS kit onboard such as the Adaptive Cruise Control, Driver Attention Warning and Lane Change assist work as intended, a little less sensitivity for Indian roads would’ve been nice. With an 82.56-kWh LFP battery pack, there’s an NEDC-claimed range of 567 km (Premium) and 547 km (Performance), respectively. While I didn’t get to do a lot of long distance running in our limited time, getting over 450 km in the real world shouldn’t be an issue.
While the prices are yet to surface, there’s a lot to appreciate in the BYD Sealion 7. If you liked Seal, then you’ll like the Sealion 7 as well. This sports SUV has all of the positives of the sports sedan while also gaining practical brownie points and more importantly, at a ground clearance of 163 mm, solves the biggest issue of the Seal. So, if priced right, the Sealion 7 could be an impressive option as an electric sports SUV.
Also Read:
BYD Seal First Drive Review – Seal the Deal – Car India