[linuxworld]

Originally Posted by 84.monsoon

Yes, very good pricing indeed, especially for the mid variant at 45.5 lakhs - Car gets a full 82 KWHr battery and more than enough power.

Dynamic Variant with 61.4 KWHr of battery and 650 KM claimed range is the best value variant with al the power one needs. The tip spec AWD comes with a steep price premium for just adding one additional front motor. Probably because it breaches the USD 40K import price threshold where 100% duties kick in for CBUs.

SEAL pricing and configurations look very attractive and unbeatable. If BYD can target the 15-25 lakh segment in the Indian market, it will be great fun. Upcoming Creta, Curvv competing against BYD is what the Indian EV market truly deserves.

[ChristComesSoon]

Quite shocked at how people have been calling this pricing as 'Amazing' and 'beating expectations'.

Take a step back and look through the tech and the value proposition.

1. EVs are mechanically simpler than ICE engines. They are to be cheaper than ICE.

2. Batteries degrade by a lot in a few years - making the most costly component non-serviceable & a huge ownership cost.

3. A high acceleration figure is usually impractical, except that it drains the battery & puts incredible stress on the cooling system.

4. How did an economy like India suddenly start saying 45L is now affordable, even for upper-middle-class families?

5. The logistics of delivering power to these cars for charging becomes impractical given the types of wiring commonly found to homes, and in homes.

6. Haven't we observed the challenges with EVs when their batteries sustain minor scrapes from routine road driving, rendering them difficult or impossible to service?

see: $60,000 to replace battery. The battery costs more than a brand new car! --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dr3mFzh0KSk

Am I missing something here?

[poloman]

I used to be a 'vocal for local' guy and had a very antagonistic attitude against Chinese companies. But after seeing the valiant effort by BYD, even though they know govt is not going to budge on Chinese direct investment in automotive segment, I am willing to reconsider my opinion. They are much better than the European cars who are fleecing us or some American ones who are foolish enough to run away from a thriving market. They are atleast trying to win our hearts through innovative products at a reasonable price.

We should change our snooty attitude like Volvo being Eurpean (Where as actually it is owned by Chinese) is better to buy than Byd which is more innovative in every aspect and giving even Tesla a run for its money. So we need to set aside our prejudices and look at the offerings objectively. Till that happen don't think Byd will have success in our market.

Bring a sub 40L, >500Km range SUV with Seal DNA, I will readily switch to EV. Not to be held back by chatter of Chinese companies being unreliable anymore.

[cryptarchy]

Until there is enough charging infrastructure present in group housing societies, EV cars are going to remain a vanity. Most of the middle class in cities live in group housing societies and even if they want to they can not charge EV cars at home.

[Love4Cars]

Originally Posted by ChristComesSoon

Quite shocked at how people have been calling this pricing as 'Amazing' and 'beating expectations'.

Your points are somewhat valid in isolation, but just look at what others are offering in the market vs BYD Seal. The comparison with existing competition like Ioniq, EV6 and more so with German brands charging premium on EVs and even ICEs, makes this a great VFM Luxury vehicle.

No more range anxiety, top of the line features and blistering performance. You simply won't get anything remotely similar as a product in this price range. The more car for say 10-15 lacs over existing ICE cars you get in this is phenomenal.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by avishar

I wonder if the government had provided a "capped" production option to BYD. Would have looked forward to them bringing the Dolphin and scaring the daylights out of Tata and Mahindra.

They are currently taking the CBU route of 2500 units, non-homologated and imported into India.
If the demand exceeds their expectations like the Atto 3 e-SUV, BYD will get the cars homologated to unlock further sales potential.

Meanwhile, BYD Seal bookings cross 200 units on the day one.



Recap of BYD's Blade battery,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...ature=emb_logo

Link:

[aim120]

Originally Posted by ChristComesSoon

Quite shocked at how people have been calling this pricing as 'Amazing' and 'beating expectations'.

Take a step back and look through the tech and the value proposition.

1. EVs are mechanically simpler than ICE engines. They are to be cheaper than ICE.

2. Batteries degrade by a lot in a few years - making the most costly component non-serviceable & a huge ownership cost.
........

Am I missing something here?

Most here are happy that BYD is able to price it competitively relative to the competition.
Most are in shock how much the existing cartel is fleecing customers in the name of EV including BYD own Atto 3 pricing in India.

Yes EV motor, cooling basically the EV powertrain is cheaper to build. But I believe it is cheap only if you make your own motor.

Currently Tata, Mahindra, MG import their motors from chinese electric motor manufacturers. Only the Tata Xpress T has a made in India Kirloskar induction motor. Sadly the efficiency of made in India Induction motor is quite far off from say a Tesla induction motor both in terms of size and weight and electrical to mechanical power efficiency.

So yes for making a motor its 95% automated and with very less of time consuming expensive CNC milling that engines have to go through.

In motors the only thing that is CNC milled is the shaft, further more engine making is 90% manual labor.

Batteries particularly LFP are good for the life of the vehicle.

[handsofsteel]

I was in China last year. The number of electric cars and companies that I saw were scary. I walked into a car showroom ( I was told it was a start up - which had employed ex-BMW designers) and was greeted with a car, the Avatr 11, the likes of which I had never seen. It had a 700+km range, had 578bhp all gizmos like pano sun roof, 3 digital screens, driverless piloting facility and the works. It was priced at the rupee equivalent of 39.99L OTR. I was left wondering what would happen to our automotive industry in case such cars (at such prices) were to come to our shores. I will leave the images to do the talking.The future is here, domestic OEMs better start shaping up.

[AbhiJ]

Originally Posted by ChristComesSoon

Am I missing something here?

You are getting 500+ bhp car with supercar performance at 53 Lakhs - At this price BMW will only offer you the fully loaded 2 series sedan.

Practicality of using 500 bhp on Indian Roads? NIL.

Do enthusiasts care? NO.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by ChristComesSoon

-----
Am I missing something here?

The below is your missing link

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by cryptarchy

Until there is enough charging infrastructure present in group housing societies, EV cars are going to remain a vanity. Most of the middle class in cities live in group housing societies and even if they want to they can not charge EV cars at home.

Middle class are people who earn in tune of 25k a month. The definition of middle class has changed drastically. Rest assured, middle class is not buying the Seal. This is a 50L rupee car, which will be cross shopped by people considering Mercedes and BMWs and Volvos and Audis. Not people buying Activas and WagonRs. Domestic charging infrastructure is least concern for the target audience here.

[abhiijithbhatn]

While it may appear that I am deviating from the common perspective, I believe that the Chinese government subsidizes the automotive industry by 30-40%, based on reports from European and Chinese media sources. This is attributed to a 40-60% overproduction relative to demand.
Consequently, it is unfair to criticize Indian companies given that they do not receive a comparable level of governmental support as their Chinese counterparts.

[shiv11bhargava]

As fast and complete as it may be, this is not a "middle" class car! For sure, it shows to the Indian customers in a deeper and more detailed way how much we overpay for the "luxury" brands.

The Atto 3 and Seal are loved across the world, certainly special in their own right each!

[darkgamer]

Originally Posted by abhiijithbhatn

While it may appear that I am deviating from the common perspective, I believe that the Chinese government subsidizes the automotive industry by 30-40%, based on reports from European and Chinese media sources. This is attributed to a 40-60% overproduction relative to demand.
Consequently, it is unfair to criticize Indian companies given that they do not receive a comparable level of governmental support as their Chinese counterparts.

This excuse doesn’t work. While the Chinese government is subsidising them, the Indian government is also penalising them. BYD’s $1B plan in HYD was rejected by Indian government and they have to rely on imports.

If a car with 70% import duty is beating our local cars with 0%, then it’s our local players who need to shape up.

Truth is that the cars like Nexon EV and XUV400 don’t cost much to produce and should actually be much cheaper than the ICE parts due to just 5% GST on EVs. Tata and Mahindra are just fleecing us with substandard cars and not even making real EVs on a skateboard platform.

If BYD was building this car in India it would have cost 23 lakhs. Chinese subsidy or not, the gap is just too much to ignore. Something has to give here.

[pradheepsr]

I would buy it at a blink of an eye had it been under a different brand name.

But NO !

It's a stunner a la Porsche Taycan kinda looks and stance and its feature packed, no two ways about it.

But I would want more in terms of reliability, ASS, and more importantly the country which the company belongs to/manufactures it, matters more.

I would still stick with a Ioniq 5, XC 40 recharge, EV6 and may be a Tesla 3 whenever it lands up in our shores.