New Chinese family SUV to rattle Toyota: New value-packed 2024 BYD Sealion 6 plug-in hybrid medium SUV arrives with its sights set on the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and Kia Sportage

BYD has launched its answer to the Toyota RAV4 hybrid in Australia.

Dubbed the Sealion 6, the mid-size SUV brings plug-in hybrid power to the brand’s range that has, until now, been electric-only in Australia. BYD will add its second plug-in hybrid model later this year in the form of the Shark dual-cab ute.

The Sealion 6 will take the fight to some of the most popular vehicles in the country such as the Kia Sportage, Hyundai Tucson, Mitsubishi Outlander and Mazda CX-5.

The numbers are impressive.

Prices for the two-tier range start from $48,990 before on-road costs for the base Dynamic and $52,990 for the Premium variant.

The Dynamic uses a 1.5-litre petrol engine paired with an electric motor fed by an 18.3kWh battery to send a combined 160kW and 300Nm to the front wheels.

Step up to the Premium and you gain a turbocharged 1.5-lite petrol engine and a second motor on the rear axle providing all-wheel drive. Outputs jump to a beefy 238kW and 550Nm.

The addition of turbo power and a second motor drops the Sealion’s 0-100km/h time from 8.5 seconds to 5.9.

BYD claims the Dynamic can be driven up to 92km on pure electric power and the Premium can go up to 81km before the battery is depleted.

The Sealion can accept up to 7kW of charge via an AC wallbox charger or 18kW when connected to a DC fast charger. It has a vehicle-to-load function that allows owners to plug in appliances via conventional household power socket in the car.

Fuel use is minuscule at 1.1L/100km for the Dynamic and 1.4L/100km for the Premium.

Those figures can be misleading, though, as once the battery has run out of juice the car relies solely on the small capacity petrol engine to drive the wheels and charge the battery, which would result in a big jump in fuel use. 

Both variants come with a basket of goodies as standard.

There are 19-inch alloy-wheels, a panoramic sunroof, roof rails and LED lighting front and back.

Inside there is a giant 15.6-inch multimedia screen paired with a 12.3-inch digital display for the driver’s instruments.

Power adjustable seats are wrapped in synthetic leather as is the steering wheel. The front two seats are heated and ventilated, there are lots of USB ports, two wireless device charging pads and a 10-speaker Infinity stereo.

All the safety boxes have been ticked with a wide array of active driver aids and seven airbags.