BYD unveiled the Dolphin G DM-i on Tuesday — the Shenzhen-based automaker’s first vehicle designed specifically for European customers, rather than adapted from a model originally built for the Chinese market.
Executive VP Stella Li had first presented the B-segment plug-in hybrid hatchback at the Financial Times’ Future of the Car conference in London.
At the event, Li confirmed the model would make its global debut in Berlin in June before a UK showing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July.
Deliveries are expected to begin in European markets by the end of the summer.
UK pricing is tipped to start from under £20,000, which would make the Dolphin G both the smallest and the cheapest plug-in hybrid on sale in the country.
BYD describes the model as “a revolutionary entry into Europe’s B-segment” designed for customers “seeking an accessible compact car that combines the zero-emissions ability of a pure EV with the long-distance flexibility of a hybrid.”
“We want to redefine what customers can expect from a compact car in the electric era,” Stella Li stated.
Specs
The Dolphin G DM-i measures 4.16 metres long and 1.825 metres wide, placing it squarely in the heartland of the European B-segment.
Those dimensions reflect a deliberate design brief.
“In China, the competition pushes everybody to make the car bigger and bigger. And the chassis is wider and wider. And then it’s become crazy,” Li said during her London appearance. “But then in Europe, it’s impossible. You can’t have a bigger car running in Paris, or Milan in Rome, and also in London. People still prefer the smaller-sized car.”
The Dolphin G is the only supermini on the European market to offer a plug-in hybrid powertrain.
It uses BYD‘s fifth-generation DM Super Hybrid system, pairing a 1.5-litre petrol engine with a front-mounted electric motor and an LFP Blade Battery.
BYD quotes an electric-only range of approximately 90 km on the WLTP cycle and a combined range exceeding 1,000 km on a full tank and a full charge.
System output is estimated at 193 kW.
The technology is closely related to the system in the Atto 2 DM-i compact crossover, which launched in European markets in February.
Full equipment levels and technical specifications for the Dolphin G DM-i will be released in the coming weeks, ahead of the Berlin debut in June.
Filling the Void Left by the Fiesta
The Dolphin G arrives in a B-segment that has thinned considerably over the past three years.
Ford ended production of the Fiesta in July 2023, closing a 47-year run that made the supermini Britain’s best-selling car of all time, with more than 22 million units sold globally across seven generations.
Ford did not directly replace the model, channelling B-segment customers toward the Puma crossover instead — a decision widely criticised as having ceded one of Europe’s most foundational segments to rivals.
That gap is only now being addressed.
Ford announced last December that the Fiesta nameplate will return in 2028 as an electric hatchback built on Renault’s AmpR Small platform — the same architecture underpinning the Renault 5, Renault 4 and Alpine A290 — as part of a five-model European product offensive due before the end of 2029.
The Dolphin G lands in a segment where the dominant electrified options are full hybrids rather than plug-ins: the Renault Clio E-Tech, the Toyota Yaris and the Volkswagen Polo (mild hybrid).
BYD‘s pitch is that buyers in the segment can now access genuine EV capability for daily commutes without giving up the long-distance flexibility of a combustion engine.
Additionally, adding a PHEV configuration allows the company to avoid the duties of up to 38% imposed by the European Commission on Chinese battery-electric imports in 2024.
Accelerating European Sales
The unveiling comes as BYD‘s European business continues to expand at pace.
According to registration figures published by the ACEA, BYD registered 50,646 vehicles in the European Union during the first quarter of 2026, up 169.7% year-over-year, lifting its EU market share to 1.8%.
Including the UK and EFTA countries, the number increases to 73,847 units — a 155.5% surge and a jump to 2.1% in market share.
Additionally, the Atto 2 DM-i has become a best-seller in Spain, where BYD now dominates the plug-in hybrid segment.
Stella Li said the Dolphin G and the Atto 2 DM-i together allow BYD to cover the full range of European vehicle segments for the first time.
Manufacturing Strategy
BYD‘s Executive VP also indicated that the localization push will extend beyond these two models, with a roadmap of B- and C-segment vehicles designed specifically for European tastes over the next three years.
“I saw that in the next three years, a lot of car design will be more based on European design for Europe,” Li stated earlier this month. “Don’t look at China. China car to ship to here. We are here with Europe.”
BYD‘s R&D centre in Budapest will take on a growing share of that work.
The Dolphin G is likely to be produced at BYD‘s new plant in Szeged, Hungary, where trial production began in January.
Li confirmed the company is now “very aggressive” in scouting for other European production sites, with the stated goal of producing the majority of its European vehicles — and a majority of their components — on the continent.
“With the scope we are, with the craziest investment for future, I think it’s better run by ourselves,” Li said. “It’s very hard to partner, to ask permission. We run very fast. We make decisions in five minutes.”
During the same conference in London, the executive had revealed that BYD is holding talks with Stellantis to acquire idle plants for local production.
