Honda Prelude vs BYD Seal

What's the difference?

Honda is a company that rarely looks back.

Badge aside, the resurrected Prelude series is more about being revolutionary than retro, with not even any classic-era styling cues (though a few likely Porsche ones).

In fact, Honda made it clear this was created as a hybrid sports car first, with the name settled on later. Probably by marketing.

It could just as easily have been branded Integra, which – given the shared Civic platform and liftback when previous Preludes had two doors only – might have been the case, except that name is already on an Acura and Chinese GAC version of Honda’s venerable small car.

That said, its new sports car is arguably more Prelude in spirit than even some of the past originals were anyway, and then some, and here’s why.

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.