Two of the most requested Chinese city EVs sit at different price points and serve different buyers. The BYD Seagull is a four-seat urban hatchback listed from US$12,800 in our export inventory; the BYD Dolphin is a five-seat hatchback listed from US$16,400. The gap is small in absolute terms, but it changes which market each car suits.
Positioning in one line
The Seagull is a city car built to a price: short, narrow, easy to park, aimed at first-time buyers, ride-hailing fleets and dense urban markets. The Dolphin is a small family car: wider track, longer wheelbase, five usable seats, better high-speed stability, positioned for private buyers who need one car for everything.
Size and packaging
The Seagull is roughly 3.8 m long; the Dolphin is roughly 4.3 m. That half metre is not cosmetic. In the Seagull, rear passengers sit in a compact bench; in the Dolphin, the rear bench takes three adults and the boot accepts a weekly shop or two airport cases. If your buyers routinely carry four adults or child seats, the Seagull will generate complaints that the Dolphin does not.
Conversely, in cities where parking is scarce and streets are narrow, the Seagull’s footprint is a feature, not a compromise.
Powertrain and range
Both are front-wheel-drive battery-electric vehicles using BYD’s blade-cell battery family. Range figures depend on the battery variant and are quoted under CLTC, which is more optimistic than WLTP or EPA. Two rules apply to both cars:
- Quote the range of the exact battery variant you are importing, not the headline figure from a press release.
- Expect real-world range in hot climates with air-conditioning, or in cold climates with cabin heating, to fall meaningfully below the CLTC number.
For fleets, the practical question is not range but charging: a Seagull doing 150 km a day in a city with depot charging is entirely viable; the same car on a 300 km intercity route is not.
Specification differences that matter at import
China-market trims vary more than export brochures suggest. Before ordering, confirm:
- Charging: AC and DC capability, connector standard, and whether a portable charger is included.
- Battery chemistry variant: affects weight, range and cold-weather behaviour.
- Safety equipment: airbag count, ESC, tyre-pressure monitoring, rear camera ā these differ between the entry trim and the top trim.
- Infotainment language: China-market head units ship with Chinese-language menus; confirm whether an English or Russian interface is available for your market.
- Homologation: whether the destination requires a conformity certificate, and whether the China-market variant can obtain it.
Cost comparison for a ten-unit order
At reference FOB prices, the price difference is US$3,600 per unit ā US$36,000 across ten units. Freight per unit is similar for both cars in a container mix, because container cost is driven by cubic metres and vehicle count rather than by price. Duty and VAT, by contrast, scale with customs value, so the Dolphin carries a higher tax line at destination.
The result: in markets with high ad-valorem taxes, the Seagull’s landed-cost advantage widens; in markets where buyers finance the car over three to five years, the monthly payment gap between the two is small enough that most private buyers choose the Dolphin.
Which one to import
Choose the Seagull if your buyers are urban, price-sensitive, often first-time car owners, or if the units are destined for ride-hailing and delivery fleets. It is also the easier car to sell in markets where charging infrastructure is limited to home and workplace.
Choose the Dolphin if your buyers are private families replacing a combustion hatchback or sedan, if rear-seat comfort matters, or if the car will occasionally leave the city. It is the safer single-model bet for a dealer who cannot stock both.
Stock both if you sell to a mixed buyer base and can absorb the working capital. The two cars rarely cannibalise each other: the Seagull buyer is shopping on price, the Dolphin buyer on space.
Practical next step
Both models are in stock with reference FOB prices on the inventory page. Send your destination port, expected volume and the battery variant you want through the inquiry form, and we will return a CIF quotation with the document set required by your customs authority. For the wider range of Chinese EVs we export, see the full inventory corpus.