BYD Shark 6 ute named News Corp Australia’s 2024 Car of the Year
Our shock 2024 Car of The Year winner isn’t just historic, it’s a wake-up call to a motoring industry that has grown complacent.
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Shark is an appropriate name for a car that hit the market like a horror movie monster.
Picture the motoring establishment swimming between the flags.
Treading water, playing games and watching each other, but not the deadly threat under the surface.
The BYD Shark 6 is more than our Car of the Year.
MORE: BYD Shark shines in the bush
It’s a wake-up call to an industry that has grown complacent.
This is the first ute to win our Car of the Year award, and the first Chinese brand to do so.
It’s a car that represents a genuine attempt to revolutionise its class, rather than bring incremental upgrades to power or efficiency while delivering a bigger touchscreen and fresh facade.
MORE: The nine finalists for News Corp’s Car of the Year
Priced from $57,900 plus on-road costs (about $61,000 drive-away), the Shark represents sharp buying.
Standard kit includes heated and cooled seats, dual-zone climate control, a head-up display and an enormous 15.6-inch central touchscreen that rivals struggle to match before you peek under the bonnet. It has a sophisticated plug-in hybrid motor that mates dual electric motors with a turbo petrol engine to produce 321kW – double the power of an average ute.
It delivers rapid acceleration and feels like an EV for the most part – silent and smooth, with no clunks or vibration from a rattly diesel engine or coarse transmission.
Three power points in the tray are linked to a 29.58kWh battery that runs appliances on the worksite or campsite, returning around 70km of electric driving range.
Four of six judges voted for the Shark as the 2024 News Corp Australia Car of the Year.
Toby Hagon said it represented “amazing value”.
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“The ute market has been a little bit stagnant for years, possibly decades,” he said.
“This Shark 6 has come out and shown just how differently you can attack it, and how well you can do it when you start thinking about things a bit differently.
“Obviously the plug-in hybrid system is a game-changer. It is really taking the fight to those diesel-powered utes.”
Iain Curry felt the car registered just in time for testing was “a worthy winner”.
“The BYD Shark brings things on to the next level,” he said. “The value you get, the performance, the space, the technology – it really is a game changer in that space and other utes are going to have to step up to compete with BYD.”
Praised for a spacious and quiet cabin with comfortable seats, the Shark was criticised for heavy-handed safety features, tricky infotainment and an occasionally harsh ride.
The Shark also falls short on towing capacity (2500kg) and payload (790kg) which don’t match the best diesel utes.
Second place fell to the Hyundai Santa Fe Hybrid, hailed by Curry as “a brilliant seven-seat family car” and Hagon as a model that “stands tall” in a competitive class.
Danielle Collis felt the Santa Fe was “really smart, intuitive and practical, especially for families”. Jules Lucht praised the seven-seater for similar reasons.
“I love Hyundais – the way you just get in them and everything works,” she said. “It’s very well thought out design wise.”
From its efficient 1.6-litre hybrid motor to the fact it can accommodate three rows of people and still have space for a full-size spare tyre, the Santa Fe flew the flag for traditional motoring, representing evolution rather than revolution.
Third place went to Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N.
The high-performance electric car combines supercar-humbling pace with a fun-loving approach that puts the driver in control. You can dial the car in to feel exactly the way you want, customising its suspension, steering, traction, brake response and even the shifts from its simulated replica of a paddle-shift transmission.
Praised as lighting the way for battery electric vehicles by bringing a new level of entertainment to the class, the Hyundai’s personality won over our team of judges.
Another judge said “performance wise, it’s fantastic”.
“There’s a lot of hype about it, and it didn’t disappoint. The only thing that disappointed me is the price,” he said.
Hagon echoed that sentiment, assessing the Ioniq 5 N as “a groundbreaking car, but a very expensive one”. Collis felt the car’s asking price – about $125,000 drive-away – was “mind-blowing”.
Kia’s EV5 represents a value pick at about half the Ioniq’s cost. Pitched as an alternative to the Tesla Model Y, we agreed that it was “a great EV if you don’t like Elon Musk” and ultimately too bland in the face of bold competition.
BYD’s Sealion 6 blends similar (but less powerful) running gear to the Shark in an SUV body.
Praised for its sharp price and newly reworked suspension, the Sealion impressed in isolation but lacked wow factor.
The same is true of Toyota’s Camry Hybrid. The most affordable car in the line-up had the most supple ride, along with a startling appetite for corners. Seen as an incremental improvement over previous efforts, the Camry’s bland cabin and anonymous style hurt its chances.
The new Toyota Prado was an early favourite until we opened the tailgate to find a shocking lack of storage space in a boot compromised by its mild hybrid system, a full-size spare wheel and third row of seats.
You can take seven people on a drive, but they must leave their stuff at home.
Similarly, MG’s Cyberster is a hands-down winner in the style stakes, but doesn’t deliver outside the showroom.
Yes, it’s fast, but the MG is not particularly engaging and its control systems are maddening – four digital displays and unlabelled steering wheel buttons are difficult to grasp.
Then there’s the Ford Mustang. Adored for its throaty V8 soundtrack, throwback styling and DIY manual gear shift, it lost ground for an increasingly high price and questionable safety record.
A POPULAR PONY
The Ford Mustang was the people’s champion in our online reader poll, accounting for more than a quarter of almost almost 24,000 responses with more than 6500 votes earlier this week.
Toyota’s Prado was second with more than 5000 votes, ahead of the third-placed Camry with about 3500 votes.
The BYD Shark was narrowly ahead of the Kia EV5 and BYD Sealion in fourth place, clear of Hyundai’s Santa Fe and Ioniq 5 N, plus the MG Cyberster.
Originally published as BYD Shark 6 ute named News Corp Australia’s 2024 Car of the Year
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