BYD's big move behind the scenes: Here’s what a ‘seamless’ change to 2026 Sealion 6 hybrid SUV will mean for Australia

BYD’s Sealion 6 will undergo a behind the scenes change in Australia, which could alter the future direction of BYD products for our market.

Following the news of the end of production for the top-selling BYD Sealion 6 in China, the brand’s local division has confirmed to CarsGuide not only will the model live on, but it will swap production to the brand’s Thai factory.

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“BYD vehicles are built to the same exacting quality standards irrespective of the production location, so it doesn’t matter if the vehicles originate from China or Thailand,” the representative said. “Nor would we anticipate any impact to shipping and logistics costs.”

While the shift may be imperceptible to buyers, it represents an interesting move for the Chinese brand in opening the door to potentially more Thai-built cars in the future.

BYD opened its new Thai factory in 2024, which has been building the Atto 3, Dolphin, Seal and now the Sealion 6, with a capacity of 150,000 units a year. While the factory serves as a strategic facility for right-hand drive markets in the region, it also started exporting left-hand drive vehicles to Europe in 2025.

This is because vehicles built in Thailand can dodge some tariffs placed on Chinese-built vehicles in Europe.

The massive export boon, plus a big push in Thailand to electrify its vehicle fleet, has attracted multiple Chinese manufacturers to its shores.

BYD joins GWM, which took over the Holden plant in the same province, as well as familiar giants SAIC Motor, Changan and GAC.

GWM has also begun to source cars for the Australian market from its Thai facility, kicking off with the updated Ora electric hatchback.

Thailand continues to be the country of origin for the majority of utes sold in Australia, including the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux, Isuzu D-Max and Mitsubishi Triton. It was once a strong export location for passenger cars from brands such as Honda, it has since fallen to the wayside as Australia’s safety and emissions standards further diverge from our South East Asian neighbours.

More demand for electric vehicles and a higher specification level offered in Chinese cars has again made Thailand relevant as a point of origin for cars sold in our country.

The majority of BYDs will continue to be sourced from China for the time being, but it will be interesting to see whether the shift to Thai production for one of its best-selling products will influence its local line-up in the future.

BYD has an ambitious goal to be a top-three automaker in Australia by the end of 2026, and to achieve that goal it will aggressively expand on its line-up over the next 12 months.

The brand has just launched its Atto 1 city hatch and Atto 2 small SUV both as fully electrics, and will soon offer the Sealion 5 as a price-leading plug-in hybrid mid-size SUV to sit below the Sealion 6. It will also top-out its local range with the Sealion 8 three-row plug-in hybrid SUV.

The brand has also flagged an expansion of its smash-hit Shark 6 plug-in ute range, which currently only has a single variant. It has earmarked well-received upgrades from the related Denza B5 — such as differential locks, which are currently a glaring omission from the Shark 6’s equipment list.

Other officially unannounced models in the works include the Seal 6 sedan and wagon pair, both will serve as plug-in hybrid alternatives to the fully electric Seal sedan, which has been on sale for some time. The pair appeared in regulatory approval documents earlier in January. These approval documents usually precede a launch by a few months.

All form part of BYD’s plan to attack as many market segments as possible to challenge some of the most popular automakers in Australia. To achieve a podium finish, the brand will need to nearly double its sales tally from 2025, and unseat popular brands Hyundai, Kia and Mazda.