Fast wagons may be disappearing from Australian showrooms, but BYD could buck the trend with a hotter version of its new Seal 6 Touring.
Aussies are no strangers to performance wagons, having previously embraced V8 versions of the Holden Commodore. In more recent times, Volkswagen, Skoda, and Subaru have kept the segment alive.
However, few affordable options remain, with the cheapest being the Skoda Octavia RS wagon priced from $62,990 drive-away.
That could leave room for BYD to undercut the established players with a spicier version of the plug-in hybrid Seal 6 Touring, which is currently priced at $39,990 before on-road costs.
"I guess we will wait to see the response from the Australian market and how this model goes," BYD Australia chief product officer Sajid Hasan told CarExpert.
“There are a lot of enthusiasts working at BYD in the product team, and we’re all thinking that, if this goes well, we could launch something with the mid-life update or whatever it is.
“But, yeah, we’ve got a few ideas about what we could do. We would just need to work through HQ and Europe as well to see what that business case looks like.”
The Seal 6 Touring was launched in Australia last month in a single Premium trim, powered by a version of BYD’s DM 5.0 Super Hybrid system.
Unlike the all-electric Seal mid-size sedan, the Seal 6 wagon combines a 1.5-litre Atkinson-cycle four-cylinder petrol engine with a 19kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack and an electric motor.
The system produces 163kW and drives the front wheels exclusively. BYD claims the Touring can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 8.1 seconds.
By comparison, the Octavia RS wagon produces 195kW and 370Nm and is claimed to hit three figures in 6.4 seconds, while the WRX Sportswagon cranks out 202kW and 350Nm for a claimed 6.1-second 0-100km/h sprint.
One potential route to bridging the performance gap would be adapting BYD’s more powerful dual-motor, all-wheel drive plug-in hybrid technology for the Seal 6 Touring.
Currently featured in the Sealion 8 large SUV, the DM-p – which stands for ‘Dual Mode Performance’ – system combines a turbocharged petrol engine and two electric motors for up to 359kW and 675Nm.
In the roughly 2.6-tonne, seven-seat Sealion 8, that is enough for a claimed 0-100km/h time of less than five seconds.
A lighter, lower Seal 6 Touring fitted with a similar powertrain could potentially be quicker, putting it ahead of the Octavia RS and WRX Sportswagon on paper, and possibly into the territory of more expensive European performance wagons.
However, Mr Hasan’s comments suggest any hotter Seal 6 Touring would be unlikely to appear before the model’s mid-life update.
Based on BYD’s usual product cycles, that could place a potential launch around late 2027, although no timing has been confirmed.
For now, the idea remains under consideration, but even the prospect of another attainable fast wagon should appeal to Australian enthusiasts.
