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This is going to be the year of the plug-in hybrid ute.
Mitsubishi was expected to hit the market first with a Triton plug-in ute, given its learnings from Outlander, but the ship has since sailed: BYD’s Shark 6 is here first, to be followed shortly by the GWM Cannon Alpha.
Next is Australia’s favourite vehicle, the Ford Ranger. But for all the interest in BYD’s new plug-in hybrid Shark 6 ute, Ford’s entry appears to be getting very little coverage.
We asked David Smitherman, the CEO of EVDirect, the company that launched and continues to import BYD vehicles into Australia, what Ford and BYD are doing differently.
He declined to comment on the Blue Oval’s strategy directly, but gave his opinions on what has set the Shark 6 apart.
“I think it's very true whenever you bring a new product to market that's innovative, that's fit for purpose, that's cool, that's got all of the engineering and design that people want at a great, affordable price — Aussies are very canny, right? And they'll sniff out a good deal.”
Looking at the raw figures, it’s hard to deny the Shark 6’s appeal. With 321kW and 650Nm, rated punch is hot-hatch fast despite weighing 2710kg. Plus, the combined fuel consumption is just 2.0L/100km and it can travel around 100km on its 30kWh battery pack alone.
It is not perfect with lower-than-average payload and 2500kg towing limit, but its $57,900 (before on-road costs) price puts it on par with a Ford Ranger XLS Bi-Turbo or mid-spec Toyota HiLux SR V-Active even though its outputs and interior equipment levels are leagues ahead.
“I think it's just about knowing the market. We spend a lot of time working out the spec, working out the pricing, to work out what's going to be suitable in Australia; what colors, all those kinds of things.
“I think [the success] is a direct result of the hard work and propositioning to get the right product to market,” said Smitherman.
“Ultimately it's just that the technology in this car is second to none. We look at our other, other technologies out there, it’s all old fashioned, right?”
BYD is holding in excess of 5000 orders, some of which have now arrived with customers. That makes up a quarter of BYD’s sales last year, so it isn’t small fry, but even larger volumes are not alien to Toyota, which took 20,000 orders for its Prado before launch.
Ford will not go down without a fight, of course. There’s a new ‘Stormtrak’ trim to headline the Ranger PHEV, though CarsGuide understands the brand is targeting a sub-$70,000 start price, likely in a lower trim level. It will launch mid this year.
The brand has not revealed all the specs for its new plug-in hybrid but electric range will be “over 45km”, or less than half the Shark’s 100km rating. Conversely, Ford isn’t going to settle for less than a 3500kg braked tow rating, by the sounds of things.
“We truly believe that the [plug-in] delivers on the key Ford attributes that made the Ranger number one – the towing [and] off-road capability,” Myles Hartley, Ford’s GM for electric vehicles previously told CarsGuide.
Ford is keeping its target firmly on the traditional tradie and adventure buyer set and yet, while BYD’s numbers aren’t quite as convincing, Smitherman is adamant that Shark buyers are coming out of existing diesel dual-cab utes.
“I talk to customers all day, every day, every week and ask those questions around what are the [trade-ins], what are they getting out of; we surveyed a couple of thousand Shark owners and asked them those questions, and yeah, they are in that sort of sphere for sure,” said Smitherman.
“We're seeing a lot of people jumping into their first new-energy vehicle,” he said, suggesting lots of diesel or petrol owners were taking the plunge — ‘new energy vehicle’ being a term that’s a catch-all for hybrid, plug-in, range extender and battery electric cars.
Still, with only one trim level of Shark 6 and only three years of brand recognition, BYD’s first ute isn’t going to rocket to number one spot… yet. Smitherman admitted there are more variants on the way with an eye on big fleet sales.
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