The new BYD Dolphin Surf is billed as the car that'll bring mass electrification to the small car market.
While a large percentage of big cars are electrified (or part electrified), with small, affordable cars, the proportion is much lower. The BYD Dolphin Surf is one of a raft of recent vehicles (alongside vehicles like the the Dacia Spring, Hyundai Inster and Renault 5) that sets out to change that.
While BYD is a lesser known brand than its rivals, it has more credentials in this area than any one else: it already makes more electric cars than anyone else in the world, while Dolphin Surf prices start at £18,650.
You might recognise the Dolphin Surf as the BYD Seagull – an electric car that recorded almost half a million sales in its first year on sale.
The resemblance of its ‘face’ to that of a seagull dive-bombing to steal your chips is no coincidence – and us making that negative association is why the name has been changed over here. As for the new one? The first half draws an obvious link to the larger electric hatchback that BYD sells; the second half is intended to give the car a fun, zesty, youthful image.
