Chery Tiggo 8 vs BYD Seal

What's the difference?

Once upon a time, not very long ago, there were tough choices to make when it came to buying a seven-seat SUV. Did you want lots of space? A hybrid? Or, for it to be affordable?

In a move that will no doubt horrify old favourites, Chery’s new Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid sets out to prove you can have all of these things at once.

Offering seven seats in an ideal upper mid-sized format, complete with a plug-in hybrid system at the price of a combustion rival, the Tiggo 8 ticks too many boxes to count.

Is it too good to be true? We went to its Australian launch to find out.

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.