2024 Polestar 2 vs BYD Seal

What's the difference?

The Polestar 2 arrived to a warm welcome in Australia just a handful of years ago, as an outstanding electric car, and a worthy European-branded rival to the Tesla Model 3.

Despite this, there were a few things we wished the original car had. Some of these were reasonable. For example, we wished key safety items weren't optional. Others were decidedly less so, like, wouldn't it be great if it was rear-wheel drive?

Imagine our surprise when this new 2024 version was announced, with so many of our wishes, unreasonable and otherwise, catered for.

So is the new Polestar 2 the car it always should have been, or is it too good to be true? Plus, with a significant number of rivals - both cheaper and more expensive on its hands - does this Swedish-Chinese pioneer still make sense?

Read on to see what we found.

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.