Strip the BYD Seal 05 DM-i back to its specification sheet and the character is already there: Petrol engine, 155 kW. Byd built from 2025, in the decade the industry is turning electric. Its designer of record is Under the lead of Wolfgang Egger.
The background
The BYD Seal 05 DM-i (Chinese: 比亚迪海豹05DM-i; pinyin: Bǐyǎdí Hǎibào 05 DM-i) is a plug-in hybrid compact sedan manufactured by BYD Auto since 2025. Part of the Seal family, it is a restyled and updated version of the BYD Destroyer 05, both part of the Ocean Series product line-up that are distributed through Ocean Network dealerships. It is the sister model to the BYD Qin Plus from the Dynasty Series.
The engineering
Under the skin sits Petrol engine; it is rated at 155 kW; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. Kerb weight is 1480-1580 kg. Power-to-weight lands near 105 horsepower per tonne, which is brisk everyday performance. The gearbox is a E-CVT. The layout matters: the engine drives the front wheels, the packaging choice that gives a small car a big cabin. The wheelbase is 2718 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Where it sits in Byd's history is not in doubt: the BYD Destroyer 05 came before it; it was built at Changsha, Hunan. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Nissan N7, the Renault Boreal, the Chery Fulwin A9L. Its Byd stablemates include the BYD 8TT and the BYD Atto 2.
BYD Seal