Love them or loathe them, BYD is making waves. It’s not just in the Philippines either, as the Chinese automaker has managed to win over the World Car of the Year judges.
Okay, so the company didn’t win the overall title of World Car of the Year 2025 as it’s the Kia EV3 that took it home. However, it’s the BYD Seagull that won the crown for World Urban Car of the Year 2025. Yes, the Seagull you see sitting in showrooms right now is officially an award winner.
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“We are incredibly proud and honored that the BYD Seagull has been recognized as the World Urban Car in the prestigious World Car Awards 2025. This achievement reflects our commitment to providing sustainable technologies and exceptional service to customers worldwide,” said Stella Li, Executive Vice President of BYD. It’s also worth pointing out that Li was chosen as this year’s automotive executive of the year by the same panel.
The subcompact EV faced off stiff competition this year. Among the finalists it had to beat were the Mini Cooper Electric and Hyundai Casper Electric, also known as the Inster in Europe. BYD’s win is quite the achievement given that it managed to fend off two legacy automakers.
With that, we also gave praises to the Seagull when reviewed it earlier this year. We said it was ‘perhaps the most sorted budget EV we’ve driven yet. It doesn’t feel cheap and flimsy, it’s loaded with features, pleasant to drive, and offers great value.’
It seems the World Car of the Year judges thought so, too.
