BYD’s upcoming hatchback is aimed at budget EV sector and goes on sale this summer
BYD has confirmed that the new Dolphin hatchback will start from £25,490 when it goes on sale in the UK later this year, joining the Atto 3 SUV in BYD’s all-electric lineup.
That price tag undercuts the larger Atto 3 by over £10,000 but also many of the Dolphin’s most obvious rivals – such as the Vauxhall Corsa Electric, Volkswagen ID.3 and the MG4. The Dolphin will be offered in four trim levels, Active, Boost, Comfort and Design with the top spec Design models starting at £30,990.
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, with an advanced ‘Blade’ battery design where the cells are integrated into the car’s structure instead of being collated into packs beforehand. Models in Comfort trim and above get a 60kWh battery and BYD is claiming 265 miles of range on the WLTP test cycle. Active models get a 44.9kWh battery for a 211-mile range (or 193 miles in the more powerful Boost model).
The top spec electric motor is 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. Boost models get a 174bhp motor and there’s a less powerful 94bhp unit for the entry-level Active cars – both variants using the 44.9kWh battery.
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. 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).
Now read our review of the BYD Seal…
Keyword: New BYD Dolphin electric hatch starts from £25,490