Novated Lease on the BYD Sealion 7 Premium

The BYD Sealion 7 Premium is currently one of the most novated-leased EVs in Australia, and it's not hard to see why. At around $58,000 driveaway, it sits comfortably below the Luxury Car Tax threshold — which means it qualifies for the federal FBT exemption for eligible battery electric vehicles. In plain terms: your employer pays no Fringe Benefits Tax on the vehicle, and you fund the entire lease from pre-tax salary. That combination of a competitive purchase price and zero FBT is exactly the kind of structural advantage that makes a novated lease genuinely worthwhile rather than just a payroll administration exercise.

This is a mid-size SUV with real-world EV range that suits most commuters and weekend drivers alike. The Sealion 7 Premium comes with a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup, a WLTP-rated range in the vicinity of 480 km, and DC fast-charging capability up to around 150 kW. For a novated lease, those numbers matter because your running costs — primarily energy rather than fuel — are bundled into your pre-tax budget alongside registration, insurance, tyres, and servicing. Lower per-kilometre energy costs versus petrol translate directly into a tighter, more predictable budget inside your lease.

FBT exemption: how it applies here

Under current federal rules, a battery electric vehicle with a driveaway price below the Luxury Car Tax threshold is exempt from Fringe Benefits Tax when provided through a novated lease to an eligible PAYG employee. The Sealion 7 Premium's approximate $58,000 driveaway price clears that hurdle with room to spare. That matters because FBT is typically the cost that erodes the benefit of novated leasing for higher-income earners — removing it entirely changes the maths significantly.

It's worth being clear about what the exemption actually means in practice. Your employer has no FBT liability on this vehicle, so there's no grossed-up reportable fringe benefit that pushes up your income for Medicare levy surcharge, HECS repayment, or certain tax offsets. The lease payments — and the bundled running costs — are all drawn from your pre-tax salary. The potential tax savings scale with your marginal rate, so the higher your income, the more pronounced the benefit. Use the calculator on this page to see real numbers based on your actual salary and estimated kilometres.

Running costs and what's bundled in your budget

A novated lease packages the vehicle's running costs into a single pre-tax deduction, so understanding what you're actually paying to operate a Sealion 7 Premium is important before you lock in a lease term. Home charging on a standard overnight tariff is typically a fraction of the per-kilometre cost of petrol, and with DC fast-charging available on longer trips, you're not tethered to slow infrastructure. BYD's local service network has expanded significantly, and scheduled servicing costs for EVs are generally lower than equivalent petrol vehicles given fewer moving parts and no oil changes.

For comparison: the Tesla Model 3 is the obvious alternative at a similar price point. It offers a more established Supercharger network and marginally more brand recognition, but the Sealion 7 Premium matches it on range, beats it on interior space as an SUV, and comes in at a competitive price. Against mid-size petrol SUVs in the same bracket — think Mazda CX-5 or similar — the Sealion 7 Premium carries a higher upfront cost but eliminates FBT entirely and delivers lower per-kilometre running costs. For many PAYG employees, those two factors more than offset the purchase price difference when you run the full lease-term numbers.

Common questions about novating a BYD Sealion 7 Premium