The BYD Seagull has become one of our favorite electric city cars out there. It’s a low-price EV that doesn’t feel cheap, and it’s wonderfully zippy around the town. Heck, it can even do a drive outside the Metro without a hitch, too.
Heck, even the World Car of the Year panel agrees. Recently, it was crowned as this 2025’s Urban Car of the Year, so the Chinese automaker is definitely doing something right.
Now, it’s been launched widespread in Europe, and it has specs we’re genuinely jealous of. Yup, it’s the Old Continent that gets the best specs, even better than that in its home market.
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Over there, the BYD Seagull gets a different name. It’s called the Dolphin Surf, and it has more powerful motors from the get go. Not only that, the battery sizes are also bigger, and it’s even slightly longer than the version we get here.
It’s still a small hatchback, mind you, but it now measures 3,990mm long thanks to a longer body and a different set of front and rear bumpers. For comparison, the one we get here is a mere 3,780mm long.
Inside, the cabin layout is identical to the model sold in the rest of the world. From the organic lines to the light-colored panels, current Seagull owners will find the interior of the Dolphin Surf very familiar. The body extension does pay off in the cargo department, though. From 230 liters, it goes up to 310 liters.
Euro-spec models come standard with advanced driver assists. That means there’s adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, and lane departure warning, to name a few. And yes, the rotating screen is very much present here.
Now, for the main highlight, the powertrain. The one we get has a 30kWh battery that’s hooked up to a single electric motor that makes 74hp and 135Nm. The entry-level models still use the same battery pack, but power is up to 88hp and 175Nm. Opt for mid-spec variant, and the battery increases to 43.2kWh, but power and torque figures are the same as the base version.
But the main attraction is the top-spec variant. The battery size is still at 43.2kWh, but power output rises to 156hp and 220Nm. That’s over double the power of what we get here, and packs nearly twice the torque. With that much power in a subcompact body, it should be a sprightly runabout. As for range, the base model can get up to 220km, 322km for the mid-spec, and 310km for the flagship variant.
More photos of the BYD Dolphin Surf (Euro market BYD Seagull):
