BYD Dolphin: Pricing coming for Australia's 'most affordable' electric car

BYD is preparing to open orders for its second car in Australia.

The Dolphin will go on sale on June 22, at which point the brand’s distributor says it will become “Australia’s most affordable, high quality electric vehicle of all time”.

When it arrives, it’ll go head-to-head with the GWM Ora hatchback, along with the imminent MG 4.

In China, the Dolphin is priced at the equivalent of $25,000 before on-road costs. In Australia, it’s expected to cost between $30,000 and $40,000.

The Dolphin rides on BYD’s new 3.0 EV-only platform, with MacPherson strut front and torsion beam rear suspension, and disc brakes at each end augmented by regenerative braking.

All BYD Dolphins in China come with six airbags, ISOFIX anchors, cruise control, remote start, LED headlights, alloy wheels, a 12.8-inch rotating touchscreen with voice control, over-the-air updates, and vehicle-to-load compatibility.

Only the flagship 130kW grade in China comes with driver assist features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, and traffic sign recognition – which we’d expect would be standard in local cars.

When it touches down, the Dolphin will sit below the Atto 3 in the BYD range.

Despite only launching locally late in 2022, the BYD brand has established itself as an electric car leader Down Under. To date in 2023 it has sold 4664 cars, all of them electric.