BYD Dolphin EV is launching in Malaysia soon: Here’s what to expect

[ UPDATE 3 27/7/2023 03:15 ] The official price of the BYD Dolphin EV in Malaysia has been revealed.

[ UPDATE 2 17/7/2023 12:58 ] The launch of BYD Dolphin EV in Malaysia will take place on 27 July instead.

[ UPDATE 14/7/2023 16:45 ] BYD Sime Darby Motors confirmed that the launch date of BYD Dolphin EV in Malaysia is 28 July.

===

After releasing the popular Atto 3 in Malaysia, BYD is finally going to release its next EV, the BYD Dolphin into our local market. This is based on a new teaser that was published on BYD Cars Malaysia’s Facebook and Instagram pages today.

While the teaser did not explicitly mention the new model’s name, it was filled with several hints. For one, the video revolves around oceans and waves which should be a reference to BYD Ocean Series.

In addition to that, you can also hear the sound of dolphins in the clip. These hints are pointing to one very particular model: the BYD Dolphin electric hatchback.

It is a long time coming

We are already aware of BYD’s plan to launch the Dolphin in Malaysia for quite some time. After all, the fully-electric hatchback made a surprise appearance at the BYD Atto 3 Malaysian launch last December albeit just for a few minutes.

Furthermore, the Dolphin has just made its way into Thailand and Singapore earlier this month. With that, Malaysia is highly likely to be its next stop for its launch market.

BYD Dolphin quick specs

When compared to Atto 3 which is also known as Yuan Plus back in China, the Dolphin is a much more compact model even though both models are based on BYD e-Platform 3.0 architecture. At the moment, it is unclear how many Dolphin variants BYD will release in Malaysia but in Thailand, the EV can be obtained in its Standard Range form or Extended Range edition just like the Atto 3 in our market.

In its Standard Range form, the EV is equipped with a single electric motor that produces 70kW (95hp) and 180Nm of torque. Based on the Thai brochure, the base Dolphin can accelerate from 0 to 100km/h in 12.3 seconds.

When it comes to battery, the Dolphin Standard Range features a 44.9kWh BYD Blade Battery pack that allows it to have a WLTP range of 340km. The EV is equipped with an onboard 7kW AC charger and it can also support DC fast charging up to 60kW.

On the other hand, the Dolphin Extended Range offers a more powerful electric motor with 150kW of output (204hp) and 310Nm of torque. Naturally, this allows the variant to have quicker acceleration and be able to sprint from 0 to 100km/h in 7 seconds.

In addition to that, the Extended Range model also comes with a larger 60.48kWh battery pack and a WLTP range of 427km. BYD has retained the onboard 7kW AC charger for this variant too although the maximum energy that it can draw from a DC fast charger is slightly higher at 80kW.

The Extended Range model also gets the extra advantage of having multi-link suspension, versus having a torsion beam setup on the Standard range model.

Don’t expect the BYD Dolphin to be priced at under RM100k

Over in Thailand, the Dolphin Standard Range has a starting price of THB 699,999 (~RM93,064) while the Extended Range can be obtained for THB859,999 (~RM114,334). Despite that price point, we estimate that the starting price for the EV in Malaysia will still be above RM100,000.

Since the Dolphin is going to be imported from China, the EV can’t be priced at under RM100,00 anyway. This is due to the current Franchise AP regulation by the Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry which dictates brand-new EVs that are being imported into our country must have an OTR price tag of at least RM100,000.

That being said, the price should be lower than the Atto 3 since the Dolphin is a smaller model. As a reference, the Atto 3 Standard Range starts at RM149,800 while the Extended Range goes for RM167,800.

With that, we estimate that the price for Dolphin Standard Range in Malaysia will be between RM110,000 to RM120,000. As for the Extended Range, the cost would be slightly higher from RM125,000 to RM135,000.

To entice customers and add a little bit more value to make up for the price of EV, it is possible that BYD may provide some freebies at launch. In fact, the company gave away a free portable charger, a vehicle-to-load (V2L) extension cable and RM1,000 worth of credits for Go-to-U EV chargers during the launch of the BYD Atto 3.

BYD may consider going the Neta route which provides an RM10,000 cash rebate to the first 100 customers of Neta V. Of course, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves and stay tuned for more as we will keep you updated once we receive more information regarding the arrival of BYD Dolphin in Malaysia.