
Chinese electric cars versus Japanese hybrids is the new car battleground! BYD Shark 6, XPeng G6 and more are eyeing off the likes of the Toyota HiLux and Mazda CX-5
China’s carmakers are building and exporting electric vehicles at...
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Being at the top of the tree for more than 20 years puts a target on your back.
Toyota knows this feeling well, having beaten Holden for the last time in 2003 and building up an almost unassailable lead to this day, selling more than twice its nearest rival, Ford.
BYD has been selling cars in Australia for less than three years, but it has serious ambition, aiming to go from 15th best-seller last year to challenging Toyota for the crown, according to EVDirect Managing Director, Luke Todd.
That is a huge task but Todd is not one to shy away from a big claim. “The most successful new-car launch in Australian history” is one of them but numbers now seem to support it.
This week, the brand will climb over 35,000 sales since launching the Atto 3 in March 2022 — impressive stats and there’s no slowing in sight. So what is standing in the way of ever-confident BYD challenging The Big T?
“I think it always comes back to product and if you look at what we've currently got — we don't have enough models. We do not have enough models to be a number one player, but we do to be top-10,” said EVDirect CEO David Smitherman.
“And so you'll just see a continual launch of new products, and that will propel us higher and higher up the sales ladders.”
The big sellers for BYD will be the Sealion 6 medium SUV and Shark 6 ute, both plug-in hybrids. Both are already finding traction in the market.
“If we look at where the business started with Atto 3, [Seal] and Dolphin, pretty small segments, right? So now we're fishing where the fish are.”
There’s another big element, which is a bit of ‘fleet magic’, something the Toyota HiLux is well versed in. Adding a new entry grade to Sealion 6 is a start and “there's more to come,” for Shark 6 trims focused at fleets, “Absolutely, we’re working on that,” said Smitherman.
A safety rating ANCAP will be the deciding factor for Shark 6 fleet success, with that due in February. Smitherman is “very, very confident” the ute will get five stars, though, and open up many more sales opportunities.
The launch of flagship products under the new Denza brand will also help BYD build brand knowledge in Australia. The choice to go plug-in hybrid and electric-only for all models sets BYD apart from many mainstay brands, too.
Of course, part of the success comes down to pricing that established manufacturers can’t seem to match. Take the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, it starts in ES trim at $57,290, before on-road costs, with cloth upholstery and manual adjust seats.
Power seats, 19-inch alloys, LED lighting, keyless entry, synthetic leather upholstery and large 12.8-inch touchscreen, meanwhile, are standard in the $42,990, before on-road costs, Sealion 6 Essential.
“It’s the old economics — I used to do economics years ago — of supply and demand, right? If you have a really significant core market and you have size and scale benefits, you can always achieve good results,” said Smitherman, explaining the competitive pricing.
“Plus, BYD has a very good horizontal and vertical integration, more than any other brand, so that means that they control their cost base.”
Is a top five position in 2025, displacing household names like Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Isuzu and Nissan, likely? “Look, it's not easy,” said Smitherman, “Certainly top 10, I’ll bank on that.”
Obviously, EVDirect is keen to sell more cars. It’s business. But with a constricting market in China, BYD also has a vested interest in expanding sales.
“I think it's probably both parties [pushing]. I mean, the reality is, you don't want to be a loser in life. And what you'll see from Luke and myself is that we're winners, and so it's really about pushing the boundaries and the confidence of the product is, is so, so strong and it's not about Luke or I, it's just the pure mathematics of the size of this organisation.”
For context, BYD and its sub-brands sold a whopping 4.27 million vehicles last year — about four times the size of Australia’s new-car market. Impressive for a 30-year-old company.
And although there’s serious success in Australia, BYD seems happy letting EVDirect continue distributing cars in Australia. “Tonight is good evidence of some pretty positive sentiment, I would have thought,” Smitherman said at an event celebrating the 500th BYD location in the APAC region.
“We've walked a long journey thus far,” he added, and seems confident that EVDirect will keep the deal, “You never know in business, of course. All I know is that each month we have an opportunity to sell more cars and we push as much as we can and try to have a bit of fun along the way.”
Even to breach the top-10 this year, BYD will need to double its sales beyond 40,000, challenging GWM and Nissan. Then, for fifth, it’ll need 75,000. First is an even bigger challenge: more than 200,000 — or double Ford’s volume.
Still, 25 years ago Toyota was fighting tooth and nail with Holden for bragging rights — one of those brands no longer exists.
A lot can change in a decade or two and the next ten years look especially turbulent. New names like BYD, MG, GWM, Mahindra and Chery are just the start, with more than 10 barely-known brands also gearing up to upset the Australian new-car market.
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