My job can bring the highest of highs, spending days in exotic locales, driving hyper-expensive cars that we call “groundbreaking” or “game-changing.” But innovative as they might be, who are these “mind-blowing” advancements for? Are groundbreaking technical achievements and stunning designs limited to the one-percenters who can afford cars like the Lucid Air or Porsche Taycan?
For us normies, these cars might as well be complete fantasy.
Automakers promise that reasonably priced new EVs are just around the corner, and that the technical breakthroughs on these big, expensive models will eventually enable cheaper models, but they can’t ever seem to show up. Even the affordable models we’ve written about here are only affordable with caveats, like tax credits or heavy discounts.
Across the world, though, these cars are a reality—ubiquitous, even. The BYD Seagull is a game-changer, probably more so than the high-dollar sedans and crossovers I’ve driven in recent memory. This $8,000 EV is the best-selling car in China, and driving it on Chinese roads made me understand just why it’s so popular. I also understood just why it terrifies so many Western automakers.
And it damn well should.
Why You Won't Find A BYD Seagull In Shanghai
My time with the Seagull started with last-minute coordination with BYD, days after the Shanghai Auto Show. I wanted to be in China for as long as I could, within reason, jamming as many on-the-road impressions and new car experiences as I possibly could in my nearly two-week-long stay. Bigger, expensive cars like the Zeekr 007 GT or Nio ET9 were easy enough to queue up, but the super-compact Seagull was impossible to find. Didn’t see any BYD stores locally, and come to think of it, for the best-selling car in China, I didn’t really see any around the Shanghai streets.
That’s intentional, according to the Shanghai city government. In order to combat congestion, the city has effectively banned local owners from driving cars that are too short and cheap from driving at all. If your car is under 4 meters (13 feet) in length, and costs less than 100,000 RMB (about $14,000), tough luck – the city thinks that’s too cheap and basic to grace the streets of Xiantandi or the Old French Concession.
Visitors can drive these cars here, but don’t expect to be a Shanghai resident and be able to purchase one.
Thus, I’d have to leave the city. Not that easy on the eve of China’s Labor Day, a four-day holiday in which families and (generally) white collar workers figure out ways to leave the city and relax a bit. I was told the evening before at 5 p.m. that BYD had a test car waiting for me in Suzhou, a smaller city just outside the greater Shanghai area.
I’d need to take a train to Suzhou; only 25 minutes via high-speed rail, but by 7 PM, only about 90 minutes after the car was secured by BYD, all trains were filled. Main cabin, first class and even standing room were completely booked. Driving was out of the question; it would have been a two-hour trip, one way. Not including the awful holiday traffic. In that moment, I wondered if driving the Seagull was even worth it.
I didn’t cancel, though. I was too curious to understand just why this thing both captivated Americans, but terrified industry insiders so much. My time in China would have felt like a waste if I didn’t find out why. So instead, I went to bed early and hoped for the best. I knew that Chinese public transit is good at adding services to meet demand, perhaps they’d somehow add more seats to the trains to Suzhou.
I was right. In the wee hours of the morning, China Railway hooked a whole ‘nother train to the first. My more than two-hour journey was cut down to a measly 25 minutes, not counting the roughly ten-minute rideshare from the train station to the BYD dealership.
The BYD Seagull Is Dirt Cheap
The wide roads and industrial areas of the city’s outskirts reminded me so much of my once-bustling, tire factory-heavy hometown of Akron, Ohio, in its heyday. In Suzhou, pricey foreign and domestic EVs made by Avatr or Li Auto were traded for Dongfengs and Geely Geometry sedans. Big trucks made by brands like Sany or Foton are common, hauling heavy equipment.
Suzhou is clean, but busy; it’s what’s called a “New Tier-1” city, meaning the Chinese government essentially says there’s strong development and infrastructure, but it’s a step behind one of China’s big four true “Tier-1” cities. This means that income may trend a bit lower, but so does the cost of living. Apartments are cheaper, and from what I saw, the residents tend to trend toward cheaper cars. Suzhou is the Milwaukee to Shanghai’s Chicago.
As excited as I was to drive the Seagull, I had to admit that I didn’t have high hopes for the car. I’ve driven BYDs before, including a Yuan Plus (Atto 3) at the Paris Auto Show in 2022. I found it pleasant, surprising and perception-shifting for someone who didn’t have any experience with Chinese cars.
Still, I thought some of the finishing details were a little gimmicky and not quite fleshed out, like the rotating screen that didn’t add anything to the infotainment screen, and the software itself was ugly and slow. Or some buttons or vents that had odd material choices that didn’t feel like they’d hold up for super long. I knew that the Atto 3 is about two to three times the price of the Seagull. The Seagull would have to be comparative crap to get to that bargain basement price.
Driving The BYD Seagull In Suzhou
Within my first 15 seconds of experiencing the Seagull, I had to eat crow.
The car felt and looked fantastic. Americans may have a hard time conceptualizing what size the Seagull is, but it’s nearly identical in dimension to the Chevrolet Spark EV from not that long ago.
Yet while that car’s oversized headlights make it look like a goofy comic book character, the Seagull’s Lamborghini-esque styling hits the right mixture of playful, yet mature. Even with my tester’s light pink interior, I never felt like I was sitting inside a child’s toy. It feels like a real car, made for real people instead of a sloppy device meant to remind those who don’t have so much money just how poor they are. It’s downright dignified.
A few weeks before I came to China, BYD facelifted the Chinese-market Seagull. The styling tweaks were mild, but its biggest upgrades are the addition of “God’s Eye” DiPilot driver assistance features, and its new infotainment screen and BYD’s self-developed software. This optional proto Level 2 assisted driving system offers steering-assisted cruise control and vehicle following, which is incredible for a car that barely costs $12,000. It’s like if General Motors put Super Cruise on the car equivalent of a side-by-side off-road vehicle.
The most striking part of the Seagull is how coherent it feels in context with BYD’s other models. It’s pretty common to get behind the wheel of a brand’s cheapest car, only for it to feel completely out of step with the rest of the lineup. Step behind the wheel of an early Chevy Spark, and it feels almost undignified with how cheap its interior feels. The buttons, switches, and driving experience feel almost like a punishment, even compared to its slightly more expensive Sonic or Cruze siblings. It’s a car chosen out of necessity, and not desire.
The Seagull didn’t feel like that, which is striking. I am sure there are under-the-skin compromises to get the Seagull to its price point, but the Seagull felt just as nice as the Hyundai Elantra-sized BYD Seal 06 GT or Hyundai Kona Electric-sized Sealion 05. There were no concessions—all three had the same speedy software on the same 15-inch screen. All had the same consistent level of quality and heft to their controls; the real equalizer between the models felt like taste, range and budget.
The Seagull was also fun to drive.
There’s not much to the BYD Segull, mechanically. My Chinese-spec tester had a 38.88 kilowatt-hour battery, feeding a 75 horsepower motor that turns the front wheels. The suspension is charmingly generic, with MacPherson struts on the front and a semi-independent torsion beam rear axle. If you’ve owned any subcompact from, say, 1988 onward, the Seagull’s oily bits will look pretty familiar. But, the way they’re tuned—that’s the secret sauce.
Some non-Chinese auto writers, commentators, and even car company executives have rightly been critical about Chinese cars, insisting that interior, design, and software may be impressive, but they lag in driving experience. I don’t disagree. I’ve driven dynamically impressive Chinese cars, but there have been others that I’ve experienced that aren’t all that good.
Chassis and suspension tuning take time and money and expertise that generally come from longstanding experience in building cars, something a lot of mostly new Chinese OEMs don’t have. I mean, just look at Leapmotor’s reviews for everything that isn’t its tiny T03 city car.
Yet, BYD got it right on the first try.
I had the Seagull for nearly two hours, alone in Suzhou. I drove mostly on roads that would be considered high-speed throughfares in most American cities, “stroads” that are just shy of freeways.
Now, The Seagull isn’t fast. Seventy-five horsepower isn’t a lot, even considering the car’s repetitively low 2,500 lbs curb weight. The 60 mph dash happens in a leisurely 13 seconds. Top speed is 81 mph, and acceleration above 55 mph isn’t all that great. There’s only so much performance one can expect from the equipment the Seagull has. In other words, it’s a typical city car; my old Mitsubishi i-MiEV was slower to 60 and had less power, and I got around just fine.
The Seagull’s driving mannerisms are remarkably sophisticated, regardless of price. The ride is smooth yet not overly soft, a common problem among Chinese cars where super soft springs or overly soft air suspension are the weapon of choice to deliver the cushy, and often bouncy and incomplete ride. The chassis is sophisticated; fairly firm for a small, cheap Chinese car, and the quick, yet communicative steering is solid for what it is. Throw the seagull into a curve and it handles with grace and aplomb, on par with many European or Pan Asian cars of the same price.
This level of refinement and dignity for such a low price is why the Seagull is so popular.
Dignified Transportation
“A key principle of the Chinese consumer is also a good value for money,” said Mingyu Guan, senior partner at McKinsey & Company in China. By comparison, a Chinese-market Honda Fit ICE car starts at around $12,000, a whopping $4,000 more than a base-level Seagull.
“And by the way, you know, the Seagull offers a lot more infotainment and features. You still get a 10-inch screen, touch screen, and, also, it is an EV, so the [total cost to own] might also be pretty good,” Guan said. “With all that in mind, I think it's a very, I would say, rational choice.”. In price-sensitive, cheaper markets, the number of features is what gets buyers in the door.
And, this isn’t just a Seagull thing, either. The similarly sized Geely Xingyuan is now neck and neck with the Seagull on China’s top sales charts. The Xiaomi SU7 follows a similar principle, offering Porsche-like performance for the price of a Model 3. Moreover, Chinese smartphones from brands like Redmi or Oppo are snatching up iPhone buyers with full-featured devices that work just as well, for a lot less money.
I can see why automakers are terrified of this thing, completely. I don’t know if it’s even possible for any Western automaker to match what the Seagull has, for this price. BYD has its reasons for this, certainly. China’s labor costs are low. But the Seagull’s value proposition goes deeper than that. For example, BYD’s level of vertical integration even beats out the king of them all, Tesla.
And it's an example of an automaker trying, and succeeding, to do right by customers on the lower end of the price range. Here in the U.S., but for a few exceptions—most of which aren't great—automakers have largely ceded affordability to the used-car part of their dealerships. That wasn't always the case, but it unfortunately is now.
In Europe, the Dacia Spring gets kind of close to pulling off this idea, but it is so slow in its cheapest trim that it can’t maintain speeds faster than 65 mph. Most other automakers likely wouldn’t be able to generate such a well-resolved product for so cheap. This puts these big brands in a conundrum, especially as Chinese car brands do whatever they can to pick up market share in places that are price sensitive, value-oriented and aren’t the U.S., like Mexico or the Philippines.
In other words, it’s no wonder this thing is a hit. “When you present the consumer with a much richer choice with great features… and it’s offered at a very good, reasonable price, then [outside consumers become] like the Chinese consumer,” Guan said. “Every [global] consumer is the same. They want a good value for their money.”
Everyone wants to stretch their dollars far. Especially buyers who are shopping in the Seagull’s super budget $8,000 price range. Even in markets outside of China, where tariffs or market localization changes have sometimes more than doubled the Seagull’s price, it still plays in a very budget-oriented space where buyers are looking for the most bang for their buck.
Early reviews show that it’s still delivering on that dignified, well-equipped transportation. I foresee the Seagull (or some other car like it) turning into the equivalent of a Redmi, OnePlus (Oppo), Tecno or Infinix phone: a cheap device that performs as well as a flagship device from a Western brand. Who needs an iPhone when there are plenty of other cheaper alternatives? The Seagull puts EV tech within reach of the average person.
In the state I drove it, the Seagull would only need a few minor tweaks to be more palatable to markets outside of China, and BYD has done just so with the release of the European-market Seagull, called Dolphin Surf. Add in new novelties like BYD’s €99 per month lease scheme in Europe, and BYD could put the hurt on Western brands.
In a world where people feel so financially squeezed (especially in the U.S.), something that could do what the Seagull does would be a godsend to so many people. Probably including myself, honestly. Things look as if they’re going to get tough for a lot of people, very quickly. Lots of automakers have left this field wide open, with no budget offerings to a population in want.
It would be an incredibly easy layup for BYD, Geely or any other Chinese EV maker to sell thousands of cheap EVs, snatching away once loyal customers of established Western brands who are priced out of their new products.
And that’s what scares the hell out of so many automakers.
Contact the author: Kevin.Williams@InsideEVs.com
