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About Dolphin

The Dolphin is BYD's everyday electric hatchback, and it has done more than most to bring EV prices down to earth. Launched in China in 2021 as the first model of the Ocean series, it rides on the e-Platform 3.0 with a Blade battery, and its rounded styling and cheerful, curvy cabin reflect its marine name. It has been sold widely across Europe, Australia, Latin America and Southeast Asia, often as one of the cheapest electric cars in its class, which made it the ideal ambassador for BYD's expansion.

Its strengths are value, space for its size and easy, quiet manners; critics have noted that its handling is unexciting and some of its driver-assistance alerts overly eager. The name has since spread to a family of cars. The tiny Dolphin Surf, called the Seagull in China, brought BYD's price war to Europe's city-car class, while the Dolphin G DM-i in Britain offers a plug-in hybrid supermini. A second-generation Seagull has arrived in China, larger and switched to rear-wheel drive, with flash charging on upper trims.

In Europe, the Dolphin competes with the MG4, the Volkswagen ID.3, the Renault 5 and the Citroen e-C3, while the Dolphin Surf takes on the Dacia Spring and the Leapmotor T03. Its role is simple: get buyers into an electric BYD at the lowest possible price. Reviews, prices, new versions and the latest small-car news from BYD flow onto this page, along with the occasional comparison test that pits the little BYD against far pricier rivals. For a car designed to be sensible, it has had an outsized influence on what buyers now expect an affordable EV to cost.