It is well known that numerous Chinese manufacturers are very intensively trying to win over European customers and are constantly expanding their range of different models. Although at the start they thought that the main emphasis would be on fully electric models, they are currently very intensive in supplementing the offer of hybrids with the greatest emphasis on plug-in versions. I believe that there are few customers who have not heard of BYD, for many it is becoming an increasingly interesting option, regardless of the size of the model, or the drive technology it uses. A few months ago, BYD released several plug-in models in Croatia, and now I went to Berlin, where I had the opportunity to participate in the premiere of their smallest plug-in model. This is the Dolphin G DMi model, which should further popularize the Dolphin name, which we see more and more on domestic roads, and it is a Surf derivative that comes in a fully electric version.
The new Dolphin G DM-i model was presented to us by Stella Li, Executive Vice President for Europe and South America. At the beginning, she revealed to us that the letter ‘G’ in the name stands for ‘genius’ – genius. When we add to that the fact that they increasingly use the slogan ‘It’s not a car, it’s a BYD’ for their models. It is clear that they are targeting customers who are used to German brands, especially if we know how in the past many of them have used marketing slogans like this.
Dolphin G DM-i is a new representative of the B-segment with a length of 416 centimeters, which is 17 cm longer than the Dolphin Surf model. There is also an important difference in the wheelbase. The electric model has a distance of 250 cm, while on the plug-in version it is 261 cm. It is a new model and somewhat wider. It measures 182.5 cm, while the model that has been present on our market for some time is 172 cm wide. In addition, it is 17 cm shorter than the ATTO 2 DM-i model. All this helped to significantly increase the trunk. The solid 302 liters on the EV model grew to as much as 425 liters on the DM-i model.
The previously mentioned dimensions ensure a very good spaciousness of the passenger cabin. The front seats comfortably accommodate a person 186 cm tall, but the wide middle console slightly narrows the space for the right knee. In the back seats, behind the tall driver, it becomes a bit tighter because the bench is relatively short.
All this shows that BYD is targeting precisely the segment to which many European (and other) manufacturers are paying less and less attention. The new model Dolphin G DMi, a small car with a plug-in hybrid drive and has no direct competitor because plug-in drives are not present in this segment. However, in terms of size, this model with Super-Hybrid technology, which wants to challenge models like Renault Clio, Opel Corsa and Toyota Yaris, I drove in Berlin traffic.
The heart of the car is the so-called DM-i system. The permanently excited synchronous motor on the front axle develops 120 kW (163 hp) and 210 Nm of torque, while the system power is 212 hp. This results in almost sporty driving characteristics. It is a combination of a gasoline four-cylinder engine with a volume of 1.5 liters that primarily serves as a generator that charges the battery. With a fully charged battery and a full tank, it is possible to cover up to 1,040 kilometers without stopping for a long time. BYD says that this is enough to get from Berlin to Paris without recharging. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that much time to test these claims.
I mostly drove around the city, with purely electric driving, where the declared power consumption is 16 kWh per 100 kilometers. In hybrid mode, the car consumes around five liters of gasoline per 100 kilometers. On the trip computer, the car in EV mode shows the consumption of electricity, i.e. the equivalent of the consumption of gasoline. It was below 3 l/100 km in the driving that the traffic flow allowed us in the wider center of Berlin. Colleagues who drove the day before had a kind of consumption competition in hybrid mode, with an empty battery, where the best achieved a consumption of only 3.5 l/100 km, which is significantly less than the WLTP declared value of 4.5 l/100 km.
As befits the latest models, BYD keeps the typical design of the front part of the interior with a lot of control through the central touchscreen. However, it also uses several physical buttons for key functions such as start (perhaps a slightly confusing position, among other buttons, which is not particularly prominent), auto-hold and windshield defrost. I would also put a button for heating the rear window.
The operating system supports wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. A good thing is the Google Maps navigation system, which works very well and is among the better solutions on the market. The system uses a local but also an AI assistant in the Cloud and comes with IoV, 5G and satellite connectivity. In front of the driver is a digital instrument panel of 8.8 inches, while on the central ridge, depending on the equipment level, there is a multimedia system screen of 10.1 or 12.8 inches.
When I already mentioned the differences in equipment levels, it’s time to mention that there are four equipment levels for the Dolphin G DMi. The entry is Active, which comes with a smaller Blade battery of the hybrid system, of 7.4 kWh, which is enough for 40 km of EV range. The remaining three levels, Boost, Comfort and Sport have a larger battery of 18.3 kWh for up to 105 km range on electric power. The first two levels come on 16-inch wheels, while 18-inch wheels are provided for the other two.
The suspension is prepared quite hard, sporty, so it shows exceptional stability on good roads, while bumps are felt on bad roads. Progress is also possible in terms of recuperation, which is not particularly pronounced even at the highest level. A better feeling is also possible on the brake pedal, which has an ‘unclear’ transition between electric and mechanical braking.
BYD Dolphin G DMi will arrive on our market sometime in the fall, and then the prices will be known. Now I can only mention the prices for the German market. The base version of the Active starts at 28,990 euros, and extends to 34,490 euros for the top Sport version. That is not a small amount of money, but for more opinions we will have to wait for the prices for our market.
BYD provides a warranty of eight years or 250,000 kilometers on the battery and drive technology. It is certainly an advantage for the Dolphin G DM because it brings a plug-in hybrid with an electric range of up to 105 kilometers to the B-segment. Certainly European competition has cause for serious concern.
