Smart 1 vs BYD Sealion 8

What's the difference?

Another day, another China-backed EV brand launches in Australia. This one, though, should be at least be vaguely familiar, with Smart having previously operated in Australia about 15 years ago, back when it was a Mercedes-Benz sub-brand rocking the tiny and clever Smart ForTwo and ForFour.

Mercedes is still involved, though now as a 50/50 joint venture partner with Chinese giant Geely, though the new Smart family is not being delivered by either company, and are actually being distributed by Mercedes’ biggest global dealer group, LSH Auto.

All of which is a load of information you don’t really need. But you should know, as a result of all that, the brand is promising a fleet of semi-premium EVs designed in Germany and built in China, with the Smart #1 the first to touch down in Australia.

Oh, and they pronounce the “hashtag” part of the model name, but I just can’t see that strategy becoming part of the Australian lexicon.

Anyway, part-Chinese, part-German and all electric. So should the #1 be on your EV shopping list?

It was, perhaps, a matter of time before BYD joined the seven-seat SUV brigade. In fact, the real surprise is that it has taken the Chinese brand as long as it has to begin mining the rich vein of Aussie car buyers looking for a full-sized SUV with the ability to seat a bigger family across three rows. But here it is, finally, anyway, the Sealion 8.

Interestingly, BYD hasn’t started its quest for seven-seat dominance by offering a traditional hybrid driveline. Instead, it’s gone straight for the throat with a pair of plug-in hybrid drivelines, both offering their own distinct take on the concept.

The first is a front-drive variant of the Sealion 8. With a single electric motor and a useful range, it stands as the sensible choice. But for those who want more performance, there’s the almost comically-fast all-wheel drive version with a pair of electric motors and monstrous acceleration. Interestingly, there doesn’t seem to be much in the middle, but the brand’s typically sharp pricing means there’s not a huge price-gap to negotiate in any case.

Of course, this is a pretty crowded marketplace right now, and standing out is the key to success. Whether that’s through value-for-money, performance, practicality or just shock value is open to debate, but it remains that BYD is launching the Sealion 8 into seriously competitive seas.