Words: Richard Edwards | Published 16 August 2026, Auto Trader.
Kiwis love a station wagon.
We might buy utes and SUVs by the truckload these days, but there remains a soft spot in the national psyche for a proper low-slung load-lugger. So when BYD landed the Seal 6 Touring here, a plug-in hybrid wagon at $55,990 plus on-road costs, it arrived with a head start.
That price buys the Premium, the lone variant locally. BYD has taken the German approach in reverse; rather than a stripped base car and a long options list, you get one fully loaded model and your only real decision is paint colour. Arctic White is free, while Atlantis Grey, Sage Green and Cosmos Black each cost $990.
The Seal 6 is a handsome thing too. At 4840mm long and just 1505mm tall, it has a sleek, low profile that most of the high-riding competition can’t match, riding on 18-inch alloys with a 2790mm wheelbase.
Under the skin is where it gets interesting. This is BYD’s DM-i plug-in hybrid system, pairing a 160kW permanent magnet electric motor with a 1.5-litre petrol engine producing 70kW. Combined output is 163kW and 260Nm. The engine’s primary job isn’t driving the wheels at all; most of the time it acts as a generator feeding the battery, with the electric motor doing the heavy lifting. It can clutch in and drive the front wheels directly when cruising, which is when a combustion engine is at its most efficient, but around town the Seal 6 behaves like an EV.
And it has the electric range to back that up, on paper at least. The 19kWh LFP Blade battery delivers a claimed 125km on the WLTP cycle, roughly triple what the plug-in hybrids of a decade ago managed on a good day. In practice, expect closer to 80km; the system holds a 20 per cent reserve for the hybrid gubbins, firing up the petrol engine before you get anywhere near empty. That’s still comfortably a few days of commuting between plugs for most Kiwis. And the reserve isn’t dead weight either. Run the tank dry and the DM-i system will keep drawing on the battery to eke out extra kilometres, something we discovered first-hand in the related Sealion 6. Combine a full battery with the 65-litre tank and BYD claims a combined range of 1300km. The official fuel figure of 0.8L/100km is the usual PHEV lab fantasy, but on a 200km open-road run from the King Country to Auckland, we saw 2.5L/100km in the real world without trying particularly hard. That is genuinely impressive for a 1800kg wagon, and it makes a strong case against diesel for medium-haul touring.
Performance is adequate rather than exciting. The sprint to 100km/h takes 8.1 seconds, which feels leisurely if you’ve been spoiled by pure EVs, though the power delivery is smooth and the engine stays impressively hushed unless you’re climbing the Bombays with everything working hard. The suspension, MacPherson struts up front and a multi-link rear, is tuned for comfort over cornering like most Chinese offerings, but the Seal 6 is surprisingly confident through the bends given its weight. On coarse Kiwi chip you occasionally feel a wobble from the mass, but this is a cruiser at heart, and a very relaxing one. Your kids will fall asleep in it.
Inside, the Premium spec earns its name. Synthetic leather throughout, heated and ventilated front seats, a panoramic sunroof, a 12.8-inch central touchscreen backed by an 8.8-inch driver display, wireless phone charging, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a voice assistant that actually understands instructions. BYD’s screen hardware remains a strength, with a sharp 360-degree camera and menus that respond instantly. The eight-speaker stereo is merely average, and the safety systems, while comprehensive (the full alphabet of acronyms is standard), include a speed sign recognition system as nagging as every other on the market.
Practicality is where the hybrid layout gives with one hand and takes with the other. The boot is a generous 670 litres, expanding to 1535 litres with the 60:40 seats folded, enough for a mattress and proper camping ambitions, helped by a standard vehicle-to-load adapter that turns the car into a mobile power supply. But the hardware underneath eats into cabin space. Rear foot room is snug, headroom is tight for anyone over six feet, and there’s no storage under the boot floor or bonnet for cables. Towing capacity is just 750kg braked, which is disappointing for a wagon.
Charging is the other compromise. AC charging tops out at 6.6kW, fine for the three-hour home wallbox top-up or an overnight trickle from a standard socket, but DC fast charging is capped at 27kW. A 20 to 80 per cent rapid charge takes around 30 minutes, so it’s only worth plugging in publicly if you were stopping anyway.
Then again, that’s rather the point of this car. With 125km of electric range for the daily grind and a petrol engine for everything else, the Seal 6 Touring rarely needs a public charger at all. Rivals are thin on the ground. If you’re not ready to go fully electric but want to drive like you have, this is the most convincing halfway house yet. And it’s a wagon, which around here counts for plenty.
To experience the BYD Seal 6 Touring, head in to BYD Nelson and take our demo model for a test drive.
View BYD Seal 6 Touring | Book your test drive