BYD Dolphin electric car set for 2023 UK market splashdown
Priced under £30,000 in Europe, the BYD Dolphin is either a small electric hatchback or a large electric supermini, depending on your point of view
BYD will take on superminis and family hatchbacks with its new Dolphin, which has been confirmed for UK sales in the second half of this year.
A heavily updated version of a model that’s already on sale in China, the Euro-spec BYD Dolphin is slightly larger, at around 4.3 metres long - almost 30cm longer than Vauxhall’s Corsa Electric but around 10cm shorter than the newly electrified Astra. It looks set to follow BYD’s only other UK offering to date, the Atto 3, in being pitched between traditional vehicle segments.
The Dolphin uses the same e-platform 3.0 as the Atto 3, and features a 60kWh ‘blade battery’, in which the cells are integrated into the car’s structure instead of being collated into packs beforehand. BYD is claiming 265 miles of range on the WLTP test cycle, and has already announced that a smaller-capacity battery will be offered in due course.
There’s a single choice of motor so far – a front-mounted unit producing 201bhp. That’s enough, BYD says, for a 0-62mph time of seven seconds. The maximum recharge rate is 88kW, which can take the battery from 30 to 80 per cent of capacity in 29 minutes. Three-phase 11kW AC charging and a heat pump will both come as standard, too.
The cabin features the same 12.8-inch infotainment system as the Atto 3 – and as on that vehicle, it can rotate between portrait and landscape layouts. BYD is calling the Dolphin a C-segment vehicle and while its overall length sits shy of traditional offerings in the family hatch class, the e-platform 3.0 architecture delivers short front and rear overhangs, helping to stretch the wheelbase to 2,700mm; that’s a couple of centimetres longer than the current Astra’s and Golf’s. The Dolphin’s boot capacity is 345 litres, and this can be expanded to 1,310 litres when the rear seats are folded down – although this doesn’t leave a completely flat floor.
The Dolphin should go on sale in the UK in late summer – coinciding with BYD’s expansion of its fledgling dealer network, from its current four stores to more than 20 outlets. Pricing has yet to be confirmed but in mainland Europe, the Dolphin will be offered in a choice of four trim levels (and with several two-tone paint options, including a vivid blue and a baby pink), with prices starting from 30,000 euros (£26,500).
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