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BYD Seal vs Tesla Model Y

What's the difference?

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BYD Seal
BYD Seal

2024 price

Tesla Model Y
Tesla Model Y

$55,900 - $82,900

2025 price

Summary

2024 BYD Seal
2025 Tesla Model Y
Safety Rating

Engine Type
0.0L

Fuel Type
Electric

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Fuel Efficiency
0.0L/100km (combined)

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Seating
5

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Dislikes
  • Software needs a little work
  • Distance-limited warranty
  • Small boot

  • Drive mode selector is silly
  • Warranty below average
  • Feels very heavy when pushed
2024 BYD Seal Summary

BYD. The three letters which keep auto executives from the world's top brands up at night.

The brand’s meteoric rise in Australia from a trickle of imports to a torrent of Chinese-built EVs, outselling even Tesla in the first month of 2024, is testament to this relative newcomer’s ability to surprise and impress its buyers and the industry as a whole.

The car we’re looking at for this review, the Seal, could be its biggest challenge yet. Not only does it have to compete head-to-head with the car which put EVs on the map for mainstream buyers - the Tesla Model 3 - but it also has to vie for a share of the increasingly shrinking sedan market.

So, what’s the deal with the Seal? Is it any good? And, why did BYD choose to name it after a marine mammal? Read on to find out.

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2025 Tesla Model Y Summary

I don’t think I’m overselling it to say that this is the car that could make or break Tesla in Australia and around the world. 

Crazy, right? That seemed impossible not so long ago, back when the brand appeared untouchable. But new competition, largely from China, plus the giant Musk-shaped elefant (it is German for elephant…) in the room, has seen sales and profit plummet.

Just last month, for example, the Tesla Model Y lost its best-seller crown in Australia to BYD, admittedly in the weeks before the new 'Juniper' version arrived.

The point is, a new version of its biggest seller is a Very Big Deal. But have they changed enough, and changed it well enough, to cut through the noise?

We put the cheapest variant, the Tesla Model Y RWD, to the test to find out.

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Deep dive comparison

2024 BYD Seal 2025 Tesla Model Y

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