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Chinese car maker BYD has moved to end speculation surrounding approximately 1600 cars sitting at Jamberoo Action Park a few hours south of Sydney.
News Corporation broke the story this week that BYD was storing boatloads of new inventory in the unused car parks at the summer-only amusement park, leading to speculation about why so many cars were in such an unusual spot.
CarsGuide can also reveal that more BYDs have been spotted in would-be ‘holding yards’ in Melbourne’s east, next to an abandoned quarry in the suburb of Montrose.
Kiama Council has since asked for a ‘please explain’ from Jamberoo and BYD, over what is an unapproved use of the car park. While initially not offering any explanation, a BYD Australia spokesperson has confirmed to CarsGuide that the cars were only there for short-time storage.
“BYD takes its compliance obligations seriously,” a statement read. “Our storage and logistics partner manages several locations in the Port Kembla and surrounding region.
“Jamberoo Action Park approved the temporary use of its vehicle spaces. When Kiama Council advised that a Development Application was required to continue storage at this site, steps were promptly taken to comply.
“Vehicles stored locally are allocated to fulfil customer orders and reflect BYD’s commitment to timely deliveries of our products.”
While not providing any details, it’s likely that the situation in Jamberoo and Melbourne stem from the changeover from EV Direct’s distribution to the brand becoming factory-operated. This likely led to the need to find new storage locations in a hurry in order for the brand to maintain a steady supply of vehicles.
EV Direct was the original importer and distributor for BYD in Australia, beginning in 2022, but despite successfully growing the brand, Chinese management decided to take over complete control in Australia in July.
This is around the same time the cars started appearing at Jamberoo and Montrose, leading to the connection between the changeover of distribution.
BYD sales are up nearly 150 per cent year-to-date to the end of September, led primarily by the addition of the Shark 6 ute as well as the growth of the Sealion 6 plug-in hybrid SUV. In order to meet customer demands in a competitive timeframe, BYD is known to carry significant inventory requiring regular shipments from China.
