Huge call from ‘on track’ Build Your Dreams electric car brand

This little-known car manufacturer reckons it can be the number one brand in Australia in the near future. This is why they might be right.

Buyers of Corollas, RAV4s, LandCruisers and Hiluxes could soon be swapping their reliable set of wheels for a Sealion, Dolphin, Seal or Shark if newcomer BYD has its way.

The still-fresh Chinese brand is boldly predicting it will surge past the Japanese giant in overall vehicle sales by 2028, cementing itself as the nation’s top selling car brand in a fast-evolving market set to welcome about a dozen new brands in the next couple of years.

2023 News Corp Australia Car of the Year finalist, BYD Seal. Photo: Thomas Wielecki

The BYD onslaught – spearheaded by the just-arrived Sealion 6 mid-sized plug-in hybrid SUV and upcoming Shark petrol-electric ute – would also reshape an industry that reinvented itself following the 2017 shutdown of Australian vehicle manufacturing.

“We’re on track to being Australia’s leading brand within the next three to four years,” said Luke Todd, BYD Australia general manager.

“We have the ability to supply vehicles, we have our own production line, if we want to order 10,000, we make them and they’re here in the country within five weeks.”

Luke Todd, chief executive of BYD distributor EV Direct

The battery maker turned car company plans to achieve the ambitious new-car sales feat with a range of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids that are perfectly primed for strict new emissions regulations due to come into force in 2025.

BYD doesn’t sell any diesel cars and its petrol models – the first of which is the Sealion 6 – have a large battery pack that can be recharged externally and drive for upwards of 60km on electricity.

BYD Seal, Atto3 and Dolphin electric vehicles by BYD launch. Picture: Supplied

Like Toyota, BYD wants to cover all market segments, from small cars and family SUVs to luxury performance vehicles, vans and capable off-road wagons.

“The product [coming from BYD] is enormous,” said BYD Australia CEO David Smitherman.

“There is a lot of product coming from BYD and it’s an important market.”

What BYD has in its favour is a broad range of zero and low emissions vehicles.

Whereas Toyota dominates with sales of hybrid cars it has been slow to react with EVs, which are undergoing a sales boom off the back of increasing consumer interest and government incentives, including an exemption from fringe benefits tax for those salary sacrificing a sub-$89,332 EV using a novated lease.

2024 BYD Sea Lion 6. Photo: Supplied

And while BYD only has four cars on sale in Australia now, there are up to a dozen more coming over the next few years.

One of the most important is the upcoming Shark ute, unveiled this month.

Set to take the dual-cab fight to the top selling Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux, the Shark uses a diminutive 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine and electric motors to provide more thrust than any of the diesel-powered utes on the market while sipping a fraction of the fuel ute owners have come to expect.

Revolutionizing adventure: The all-new BYD SHARK delivers unmatched versatility and performance through the cutting-edge DMO Plug-In Hybrid Technology.

Join us as we redefine the future of off-road exploration.

#BYD#BuildYourDreams#BYDSHARKpic.twitter.com/EPGoselFIL

— BYD (@BYDCompany) May 15, 2024

“The market is changing,” said Smitherman, unfazed by the lack of a diesel engine.

While its 2500kg tow capacity is one tonne shy of the class norm, the promise of slashing fuel bills could provide enough of a sales incentive for businesses and families.

Of course, BYD has its fair share of challenges down the road, the most obvious of which are trust and brand recognition.

Everyone knows Toyota and what it stands for while many haven’t heard of BYD.

Toyota is also the gold standard for reliability, whereas the short tenure of BYD makes its long-term durability and quality a relative unknown.

BYD also currently doesn’t have anything like the dealer network of Toyota, something that’s crucial in providing service and support.

By the end of the year it wants to have 70 dealers, about one-third as many as Toyota. And those dealers are actually agents selling on behalf of head office, so are unable to do deals or crunch a bargain.

2024 BYD Sea Lion 6. Photo: Supplied

The one thing BYD can’t control is the Toyota reaction.

As the world’s biggest car maker and a brand that’s dominated in Australia for decades, Toyota is fiercely competitive – and it’s already signalled its intention to defend its position at the top.

Originally published as Huge call from ‘on track’ Build Your Dreams electric car brand