BYD Ocean-M is a concept car, indeed, but it almost definitively previews the Chinese brand’s first hot hatch, specifically designed for the European market where this type of car has always been quite popular.
A segment that survives by increasingly shifting towards electric, and this is precisely what BYD is aiming for, targeting cars like the MG4 Xpower, Cupra Born, Smart #1 Brabus, the high-performance versions of Zeekr X and Volvo EX30, as well as the Abarth 600e and the future Lancia Ypsilon HF. And it convinces, at least in this presentation and for the promised prices, in China between 18.000 and 25.000 € (134.000-186.000 DKK).
A design in the style of the 2000s
The official photos of the BYD Ocean-M, a name that recalls the brand’s oceanic family, seem to come out of Need for Speed Underground. The style is reminiscent of modified cars from that era, as evidenced by the bright color, the large spoiler, the smoked rear lights that have a design similar to those of the Dolphin but better executed and with a pleasant gradient effect; and the black rims.
In the front, the concept features large headlights and an aggressively split lower lip around the air intakes. Mounted on five-spoke wheels, the car looks quite sporty.
Strangely for a car of this type, the roofline is very high and rises towards the rear. Although the body kit probably won’t make it to production, we can still clearly see rather angular lines that will be inherited by the production version.
Most likely, the production car will fit somewhere in the BYD range between the Dolphin and the Seal, and it remains to be seen what name it could take: perhaps Shark, given the aggressiveness it aims for. Certainly, initially, the car will be electric-only, but a plug-in hybrid version may follow later, as with the BYD Seal U.
So far, BYD has not released many details about the car, other than it is destined for a new electric platform, possibly the e-platform 4.0, and that they aim to make the car the industry’s first rear-wheel-drive EV hot hatch. It’s possible that the car may be one of the first to benefit from the new second-generation Blade Battery.