• Low (claimed) fuel costs
• High electric-only range
• Long six-year warranty

What are the running costs?

The lower-powered Seal U DM-i Boost is the most efficient model in the car’s range. It has a maximum electric range of 50 miles and a WLTP fuel economy figure of 314mpg. However, that assumes you’re plugging it in as often as possible. At the end of our UK, test drive we’d average around 50mpg.

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The more powerful Design model, with its extra electric motor and punchier turbocharged engine, has a maximum electric range of up to 43 miles and an official WLTP fuel economy figure of 235mpg. We managed to get just under 40mpg out of it during our test drive – although the latter half was with a discharged battery.

Servicing and warranty

BYD has a relatively small dealer network in the UK, which is to be expected given it’s not really been selling cars for that long over here.

That said, for the Seal U DM-i, BYD is offering a basic warranty of six years/93,750 miles as standard. On top of that, BYD gives ever Seal U an eight-year warranty for its drivetrain and battery, and a 12-year anti-corrosion warranty as standard, too.

Reliability

For European buyers, this is something that’s more of an unknown. But BYD has been selling cars in its home market of China for years with no significant reliability issues noted. The Seal U DM-i’s complicated powertrain may seem like giving the owner more things to go wrong, but long warranties should put you at relative ease.