2024 BYD Seal vs 2023 Cupra Formentor

What's the difference?

BYD. The three letters which keep auto executives from the world's top brands up at night.

The brand’s meteoric rise in Australia from a trickle of imports to a torrent of Chinese-built EVs, outselling even Tesla in the first month of 2024, is testament to this relative newcomer’s ability to surprise and impress its buyers and the industry as a whole.

The car we’re looking at for this review, the Seal, could be its biggest challenge yet. Not only does it have to compete head-to-head with the car which put EVs on the map for mainstream buyers - the Tesla Model 3 - but it also has to vie for a share of the increasingly shrinking sedan market.

So, what’s the deal with the Seal? Is it any good? And, why did BYD choose to name it after a marine mammal? Read on to find out.

Cupra is a new brand under the Volkswagen Group, designed to be a cool, sporty, and youth-focused alternative to the likes of VW and Skoda, as contemporary and disruptive as it comes, and the Formentor we’re testing here treads the delicate ground between the world of hatchbacks and SUVs. 

The VZe spec we’re specifically looking at for this review is even a hybrid with a plug - arguably a concept Australians are barely ready for.

It’s very much a symbol of what’s going on in the car industry at the moment. New names, shapes, and technologies are coming to shake the status quo, and permanently alter the kinds of cars Australians buy.

It’s all well and good to be on the front foot. But does the Formentor VZe make sense in an increasingly crowded marketplace? Read on to see what I found.