BYD prepares ‘affordable electric’ EU premiere for Brussels Motor Show

China’s top EV seller, BYD (Build Your Dreams), is on track to sell 4.25 million cars this year. It has never masked its high ambitions to become a top-ten carmaker worldwide. According to the Belgian importer Inchcape, BYD is preparing an essential European first for the Brussels Motor Show in January.

There are no details yet, as it will be unveiled on January 9th, on the European press day. As BYD wants to conquer Belgium—and Europe to a greater extent—with the baseline ‘Affordable Electric,’ this could mean the première of the smallest Ocean series, the Seagull.

Under €10,000 in China

That’s a compact city car just 3,780 mm long, 1,715 mm wide, and 1,540 mm high with a wheelbase of 2,500 mm. In China, where it was launched first in April 2023, the model was already updated twice. The 2025 edition has an electric motor with a maximum power of 55 kW and two battery versions, 30.08 kWh and 38.88 kWh, offering a range of 305 and 405 km (CLTC), respectively.

In China, these cars retail from 69,800 yuan (€9,209) to 85,800 yuan (€11,320). Even with double these prices expected for a European variant, this might become a tough competitor for the South Korean Hyundai Inster, which would retail at €23,495, the Dacia Spring (€16,990 to €17,990) or the Renault 5 E-Tech Electric (€26,900)

2,600 BYDs sold in Belgium

In November, the BYD Seagull was China’s top-selling EV with 56,156 units, outselling the Tesla Y (44,576) and BYD’s other success number, the Song Plus (40,265), which is sold in Europe under the Seal-U name.

In Belgium, Europe’s sixth biggest car market after the big five in Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK), BYD has been imported by British Inchcape since 2022, next to Toyota. The figures are still modest, with 2,600 units by the end of the year, but are rapidly doubling, assures the new BYD Belux CEO Joris Clavie.

The Seal-U SUV is currently the best-seller in Belgium, driven by company car sales, and Fleet Manager Frederik Van den Bossche acknowledges this. In Belgium, BYD offers eight models, all starting under €50,000, except for the flagship sedan Han (€54,990) and the 7-seater big SUV Tang (€72,000).

The entry-level model is the Dolphin, which was elected VAB Family Car of the Year 2024, offered at €29,000 currently, but to be featured at the Brussels Motor Show (BMS) for €25,990 despite Europe imposing BYD a 17% import tax on top of the existing 10%.

BYD to swallow 17% EU tax itself

Joris Clavie confirms that BYD has no intentions of invoiceing that extra tax to its customers. In the coming months, BYD will cough up that kind of money itself for the time being as it prepares to start production for Europe in its new Hungarian and Turkish factories. These will be able to switch swiftly between models on the production lines and avoid EU surtaxes this way.

These surtaxes only apply to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), not plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and BYD introduced a hybrid version of its Seal-U in Europe for that purpose. BYD has been building these kinds of hybrids since 2008, before full electric ones (2010), and in China, the balance in sales between the two is 50/50.

Fully committed to EV

Still, BYD Belux confirms that it is fully committed to fully electric cars and wants to emphasize this by its motto “making electric affordable.” However, it gave a wrong signal to the Belgian private car buyer, who fears cold water regarding EVs, by enlisting the PHEV Seal U instead of its best-selling fully electric one for this year’s Family Car competition.

CEO Joris Clavis and his 40-headed team at BYD Belux want to win that EV customer by offering full-option quality Chinese cars that don’t have to yield pride of place to European competitors in any way, for affordable prices and with a ‘correct’ range offering. Price and range still are the major drawbacks for private car owners to go fully electric.

In Belgium, the fleet market is 90 to 95% BEV for BYD, while the PHEV tends to ease the private buyer’s range anxiety. Clavis aims to double his dealer network from nine today to 18 or 20 next year. He says it’s no trouble to find candidates, as they are ‘lining up’ willingly. These are not Toyota dealers, as Inchcape keeps both brands strictly separated.