BYD showed the new Ocean M concept at the Beijing motor show, and it should evolve into the company’s first overt high-performance model and its first electric five-door hatchback rival for the Renault Megane and MG 4.
BYD’s first hot-hatch
We say ‘overt’ because while the current BYD Seal Excellence saloon is certainly fast — 3.7 seconds to 100km/h — it looks pretty much the same as the standard rear-wheel drive model. The Ocean M concept, by contrast, could not be anything other than a hot hatch.
Aside from the bright orange paintwork, there’s the matter of the humongous carbon-fibre rear wing, which comes with a matching front aero splitter, and side skirts featuring Formula One-style ‘air curtain’ serrated edges. Mind your ankles…
Lamborghini-like styling
The massive, black-finished alloy wheel, with their deeply-dished spider-web spokes (very Lamborghini…) also give the Ocean M a definite look of a rival to VW’s high performance ID.3 GTX, which is due to launch soon and which for now will likely be the Ocean M’s closest rival.
BYD has issued no power nor range figures for the Ocean M, but it has said that the car is very close to production, and will go on sale in China before the end of this year, with European exports expected. The company has said that the Ocean M is underpinned by a new platform, which suggests that it will be the first BYD car to get the new e-Platform 4.0 electric architecture, which replaces the existing e-Platform 3.0, found under the likes of the current Seal, Dolphin, and incoming Sea Lion models.
Long-range new batteries
BYD has previously claimed that its next-generation lithium-iron phosphate batteries will have around 25 per cent higher energy density than its current designs, so benchmarking against the existing Dolphin hatchback would suggest a minimum range of around 425km with a small battery pack and potentially well over 500km with a larger battery. Indeed, BYD has previously said that its new battery packs will have ranges stretching to more than 1,000km, but that’s likely only for larger models with the biggest battery packs.
As well as the high-performance model previewed by the concept car’s sporty body kit, there will be a more conventional version to act as an all-electric rival to the likes of the standard VW ID.3, the Peugeot e-308, Opel Astra-e, and Renault Megane E-Tech. While final details are still being worked on, the production Ocean M will most likely fit between the existing Dolphin hatchback and Seal saloon in the BYD lineup, allowing the Dolphin to become more of a bargain model, while this Ocean M can be a touch more ‘premium’ and positioned rather like the Golf in VW’s model range.
Again, there is very little in the way of technical details as yet, but at the Beijing motor show, BYD was also unveiling new electric models from its Denza and Yangwang premium brands which use new 230kW (312hp) and 240kW (326hp) electric motors, so it could well be that the production Ocean M will use one of those, powering its rear wheels, easily matching the new Volkswagen ID.3 GTX for power output.