BYD Seal U

BYD Seal U at a glance

The Song Plus belongs to BYD's Dynasty range in China, while the facelifted car is sold through the Ocean dealer network there as well. Abroad BYD gave it ocean-themed names: Seal U in Europe and Sealion 6 in markets such as Australia, Japan and Thailand. The rest of the range is on our BYD brand page.

Generations and versions

The Song Plus has had one generation so far, with a major facelift in 2023. The Seal U name was introduced with the facelift.

The petrol Song Plus arrived in China in September 2020 with a 1.5-litre turbo engine (136 kW) and a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox; it was dropped in early 2022. The Song Plus DM-i followed in March 2021 and the Song Plus EV in April 2021. The June 2023 facelift, sold in China as the Champion Edition, became the basis for the Seal U, which BYD presented in Europe in September 2023. In China the Song Plus was removed from BYD's website in January 2026, with the Sealion 06 taking its place.

Engines, batteries and performance

The EV uses one front motor and BYD's LFP Blade battery. ADAC lists a top speed of 175 km/h for the EV Design, 11 kW three-phase AC charging and up to 140 kW DC; in ADAC's own test a 10-80% DC charge took 41 minutes against the 28 minutes claimed for 80%.

The DM-i is a plug-in hybrid with an E-CVT that switches between four modes: pure electric, series hybrid, parallel hybrid and direct engine drive. The AWD version adds a rear motor. BYD quotes more than 70 km of electric range for the European DM-i, up to 1,080 km of total range, 18 kW DC charging (30-80% in 35 minutes) and 0-100 km/h in 5.9 s for the AWD. A Chinese "Extended Range" AWD version reaches 253 kW. Our power converter turns kW into hp and PS.

Dimensions, space and boot

The plug-in hybrid gives up 127 litres of boot space compared with the EV. At almost 4.8 metres the Seal U needs a full-size garage; check yours with our garage fit tool.

Energy consumption and running costs

ADAC lists 20.5 kWh/100 km in the WLTP combined cycle for the Seal U EV Design; in the ADAC Ecotest it used 22.2 kWh/100 km including charging losses, which gave a realistic range of about 425 km. For the DM-i, BYD Europe quotes 6.4 l/100 km. In China the early Song Plus DM-i was rated at 4.4-4.5 l/100 km on the NEDC cycle.

Trims and prices

The prices are ADAC list prices for EVs built from February 2024 to June 2026 (Germany); the ADAC test of the Design quotes EUR 44,990. The DM-i is sold in Europe in front- and all-wheel-drive versions; check current prices with BYD, as they were not available in the sources used here.

Safety: Euro NCAP

Euro NCAP tested the Seal U EV in 2023 and awarded five stars: 90% for adult occupants, 86% for child occupants, 83% for vulnerable road users and 77% for safety assist. ANCAP adopted the result for the Sealion 6 in Australia and New Zealand with slightly different scores (88% adult occupant, 75% safety assist).

Reliability and known issues

No Seal U-specific recalls were documented in the sources used for this article. The source tables also disagree on some outputs of the facelifted DM-i (145 or 147 kW for the front motor) and of the EV (150, 160 or 163 kW), so check the registration document of a specific car.

Sales

The Song Plus family is a volume model: worldwide sales were 458,047 in 2022, 427,071 in 2023, 511,962 in 2024 and 400,920 in 2025, according to Wikipedia. In China the plug-in hybrid outsold the EV by roughly two to one. BYD built the one-millionth Song Plus New Energy around July 2024.

Rivals

Inside BYD, the Atto 3 is the shorter and cheaper electric SUV and the Tang the seven-seater. The DM-i competes with plug-in hybrid family SUVs such as the RAV4, Tiguan and Sportage. Use our comparison tool to set them side by side.

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