BYD Seagull Second Generation Grows Up to Fight Geely

BYD’s second-generation Seagull, revealed through Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) filings, is a fundamentally different car from the model it replaces: longer, more powerful, rear-wheel drive, and priced against rivals it once outclassed on cost alone. The redesign is a direct response to Geely’s Xingyuan, sold internationally as the EX2, which has turned BYD’s cheapest model into a sales casualty. The question is whether the cure creates new problems.

Geely’s Blueprint, BYD’s Response

The scale of Geely’s pressure on BYD’s entry segment is hard to overstate. Geely Auto’s official newsroom reports the Xingyuan exceeded 40,000 monthly sales for seven consecutive months in 2025, with cumulative sales surpassing 530,000 units, ranking it first among all passenger vehicle models in China. The EX2 was the second-best-selling battery electric vehicle worldwide in August 2025, and by September 2025 had become the fastest model to reach 400,000 units in the Chinese market, according to a Geely Auto press release distributed via PR Newswire.

BYD’s first-generation Seagull sold 529,537 units in 2025, but that momentum collapsed: just 227,251 units moved in the first eight months of 2026, a 37.5% year-over-year decline. In August 2026, the Xingyuan pulled 39,651 retail registrations in China against 10,103 for the Seagull. A 5.6% rise for the Seagull in August ended 12 consecutive months of decline, but the gap is still cavernous.

BYD’s answer, as revealed by the MIIT filing, is to build a car that matches Geely’s on almost every hardware dimension. The new Seagull measures 4,205 mm in length on a 2,650 mm wheelbase, increases of 425 mm and 150 mm respectively over the outgoing model. That wheelbase is identical to the EX2’s. The car also adopts the EX2’s rear-drive layout, independent multi-link rear suspension, and front trunk, while running 70 mm longer overall. A 95 kW rear motor replaces the original 55 kW front unit. Two lithium iron phosphate battery options, 30 kWh and 39.2 kWh, deliver CLTC ranges of 320 km and 420 km. An optional roof-mounted LiDAR supports BYD’s God’s Eye B SAE Level 2 ADAS, and local media reports suggest higher trims could offer Flash Charging via the second-generation Blade battery, though BYD has not confirmed charging rates.

The read here is straightforward: BYD is replicating, not innovating. For a company that defined the sub-CN¥100,000 (US$14,900) segment when the original Seagull launched in April 2023, that is a reversal of positioning.

What the BYD Seagull Second Generation Gives Up

Matching the EX2 on hardware likely means matching it more closely on cost, and that squeezes margins in a segment already running on thin spreads. The BYD Seagull second generation also creates a gap at the very bottom of BYD’s domestic lineup. At near-Dolphin dimensions, the new car sits uncomfortably close to BYD’s next model up, while leaving no small, genuinely affordable city car beneath it. The CN¥69,900 entry price for the current Seagull anchored BYD’s volume story; whether that price point survives a car with significantly more hardware is the central commercial question.

The European picture is equally complicated. The current Seagull sells in Europe as the Dolphin Surf from €22,900 (US$26,500). Its successor is expected to arrive around €30,000, which would push BYD’s cheapest European offer upmarket precisely when local competitors are introducing sub-€25,000 EVs.

BYD does have a potential workaround. Nikkei Asia reported in August that BYD plans to use the X-Pack architecture from the Racco, its Japan-only kei EV launched in July 2026, as the basis for a separate compact European model. X-Pack moves inverters and electrics into the underfloor battery pack, freeing cabin space. Built in Hungary, such a vehicle could avoid EU tariffs on China-built EVs and potentially qualify for the EU’s E-car category, which Automotive World reports offers subsidies for EVs under 4.2 metres made within the bloc. The new Seagull, at 4,205 mm, overshoots that threshold by 5 mm. However, Automotive World also notes BYD has effectively ruled out shipping the Racco to Europe in its current form, given the re-engineering needed for European type approval. Any X-Pack derivative would be a distinct vehicle on a separate timeline.

The Geely EX2 adds another layer of external pressure: launched in Brazil on November 6, 2025, it is scheduled for markets across five continents within a year of that date, including major European markets.

BYD’s launch pricing for the new Seagull, expected before year-end 2026, will settle the key trade-off. Holding near CN¥69,900 means absorbing the cost of substantially better hardware to recover volume. Raising the price cedes the cheapest slot in its lineup to exactly the rivals it is trying to outrun.