2027 BYD Seal 07 price and range undercut Tesla Model 3 by a mile

BYD made waves at the 2027 Seal 07 sedan announcement event with the insanely low starting price for a car that delivers much more than what the Tesla Model 3 can offer. The range, charging speed, and, above all, price tag numbers of the second Seal 07 generation should make Tesla feel rather uncomfortable.

2027 BYD Seal 07 price

The Seal 07 starting price of just 139,900 yuan, or about $20,830, was the real headline during the announcement. It is cheaper than the launch price of both its predecessor and the Model 3. The five trims run up to 172,900 yuan, or less than $26,000, with two plug-in hybrids and three all-electric variants to pick from. The electric Seal 07 version starts at 149,900 yuan, or about $22,300. For comparison, Tesla's base Model 3 RWD trim in China costs $35,300 in China, so BYD's new Seal 07 is more than a third cheaper despite offering longer range and faster charging.

BYD Seal 07 range and features

Range tells a similar story, as the Seal 07's rating rises to 775 km thanks to the 77 kWh BYD Blade 2 battery. The base Model 3 RWD manages 634 km on the same CLTC testing cycle, for instance, a much shorter range on a charge. Tesla does have an ace in the Long Range RWD trim that is rated at 830 km from 269,500 yuan, but that's more than $14,000 more expensive than the cheapest Seal 07 for not all that much extra range. The CLTC standard is famously generous when it comes to range, as it uses a different testing routine that emphasizes city driving, but the EPA rating of the Seal 07 would still sit comfortably above the venerable 300-mile mark in the US.

Performance favors BYD, too. The single rear motor makes 245 kW (329 hp) and 365 Nm, good for 0-100 km/h in 5.5 seconds, quicker than the Model 3 RWD, though the Long Range RWD edges ahead. The faster acceleration is despite the fact that the Seal 07 is a big car, 5,080 mm long with a 2,960 mm wheelbase, so it's considerably larger than the Model 3. It also has a 618-liter trunk plus a 160-liter frunk, and a heat pump comes as standard equipment.

The Seal 07 also supports BYD's flash charge megawatt powertrain architecture that can top up the battery to 97% capacity in just nine minutes, while the Model 3 sits on Tesla's aging 400V architecture. The top EV trim adds BYD's magnetorheological adaptive damping called DiSus-M, a smooth ride technology that it touts as belonging to $150,000 premium cars and something Tesla doesn't offer at any price in this segment.

Tesla still has the FSD software advantage, as limited as it may be in China, because BYD's cheapest Seal 07 only comes with conventional cruise control. BYD's God's Eye C self-driving equivalent package comes for free with the higher trims, though, and one can even add the LiDAR-based God's Eye B as an option.

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