A carmaker that calls itself ‘Build Your Dreams’ – BYD for short – is perhaps bound to be the subject of some awful jokes for sure! But for the people behind this automaker headquartered in Xi’an, a city in China’s Shaanxi Province… looks like they’re now pretty much ready to laugh all the way to the bank, instead! And this is primarily due to the fact that in the first half of 2023, BYD has sold more plug-in new energy passenger cars than any other manufacturer anywhere on Earth.

Now, BYD even has ambitions to overtake Tesla as the world’s largest producer of EVs. With sales for H1 2023 hitting 1,255,637 units, this new Chinese powerhouse has actually increased its global sales by a whopping 95.78% in just one year! And spearheading this drive to dominate the global EV market is BYD’s latest EV, the Dolphin. The first of BYD’s ‘Ocean’ EV series is offered in two variants here in Malaysia, with the Dynamic Standard Range being the base option with an RM99,900 price tag.

This is followed by the Premium Extended Range which goes for RM124,900. Keep in mind that these prices do not include on-the-road (OTR) fees, so if you add them in, the Dynamic Standard Range’s OTR price without insurance is RM100,530, while the Premium Extended Range is RM125,530. The Dolphin is fully imported (CBU) from China and benefits from the ongoing EV incentives (exemption of import duty, excise duty and road tax) provided by the government until the end of 2025.

In the flesh, the Dolphin is slightly larger than the Perodua Myvi, Proton Iriz, and Toyota Yaris, and about the same size as the current Honda City Hatchback. The Dolphin also gets LED headlights and tail lights as standard, alongside LED daytime running lights and taillights. As for rims, the Standard Range gets 16-inch alloys, while the Extended Range gets 17-inch wheels, alongside dual-tone exterior colour options.

Other standard equipment includes electrically heated and adjustable side mirrors, keyless entry and start, automatic air-conditioning, a five-inch digital instrument cluster, synthetic leather upholstery, a 12.8-inch rotating touchscreen infotainment system, wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support, navigation, six speakers and an electronic parking brake.

Both variants in Malaysia get a front-mounted electric motor, paired with BYD’s in-house developed Blade Cell-to-Body (CTB) battery that supports 7 kW AC charging. As for DC charging, the Standard Range can accept up to 60 kW of charging capacity, while the Extended Range supports up to 80 kW of DC charging. The vehicle-to-load (V2L) power supply functionality is available across the range as well.

With the Dynamic Standard Range model, the battery capacity is 44.92 kWh that’s good for a range of 340 km following the WLTP standard. Meanwhile, the Premium Extended Range offers a WLTP-rated range of 427 km, thanks to a bigger 60.48 kWh battery. The latter version also has more grunt, rated at 204 PS (201 hp or 150 kW) and 310 Nm of torque for a 0-100 km/h time of seven seconds. By comparison, the Dynamic Standard Range puts out 95 PS (94 hp or 70 kW) and 180 Nm, with the 0-100 km/h sprint done in 12.3 seconds.

The Premium Extended Range also gets a panoramic glass roof, a wireless phone charger, powered front seats with ventilation function, rear LED reading lights and one-touch up-down for all windows being its exclusives. It also sports larger 17-inch alloy wheels (with 205/50 profile tyres) compared to the base option’s 16-inch units (with 195/60 profile tyres). The chassis is paired with front MacPherson struts, with the range-topper fitted with a rear multi-link setup, compared to a torsion beam system on the base model.

Both also get six airbags, a tyre pressure monitoring system, ABS, ESC, traction control and EBD, alongside parking sensors and a 360-degree camera. More impressively, autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, lane keeping support, blind spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert with braking support, lane departure prevention, emergency lane keeping assist, predictive collision warning, rear collision warning and lane change collision warning are available across the range!

The Dynamic Standard Range can be had in Urban Grey with a grey/black interior or Sand White with a brown/black interior. Meanwhile, the Premium Extended Range is offered in a host of two-tone exterior finishes: Atlantis Grey/Delan Black roof with grey/black interior, Surf Blue/Urban Grey roof with blue/black interior, and Ski White/Urban Grey roof with grey/black interior.

For more information, visit the official BYD Malaysia website