The cut-price Chinese electric ute coming soon: BYD to take on the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger with "practical, desirable, and spacious dual-cab ute"

Chinese car-maker BYD could win the race to Australia's first all-electric dual-cab ute, with an EV tough truck to rival to the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger to launch Down Under in 2023.

The brand, through its Australian partner Nexport, has outlined a bold vision for this market, with BYD targeting a top-five position in this country.

And critical to those plans is a ute (rendered in an artist impression above), allowing the brand to carve its own slice of our gigantic – and competitive – dual-cab market.

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"Our belief is that with the six models will be launching in the next two-and-a-half years, there's no reason we can't be a top-five auto retailer," says Nexport boss Luke Todd. "And that includes the fact we'll have a pick-up ute within that timeframe."

"It's under development, and will be here in 2023. It's 100 per cent electric, and have everything you want it to have."

The BYD story will begin in Australia later this year when the brand unveils the new Yuan Plus SUV in Australia – a small-to-medium SUV that sits somewhere between a Kia Seltos and a Mazda CX-5.

It will be followed, in mid-2022, by a larger vehicle, thought to be the successor to the current Chinese-market Han, as well as the next-generation EA1 – known domestically as the Dolphin – which is a Toyota Corolla-sized city car that will deliver a 450km driving range in Australia.

But the one Australians will be most excited to see will be the as-yet-unnamed ute, which Mr Todd promises will deliver "everything you want", including a minimum 450km driving range.

"It's not as wild as a Tesla Cybertruck," he says. It will actually be a very desirable, practical, and very spacious dual-cab pick-up or ute.

"It's hard to work out whether we want it to call it a ute or a pick-up. Obviously models like the Rivian R1T are pick-ups, and it's more in that kind of vein than it is a classical Holden or Ford ute.

"This is more like a luxury vehicle that also happens to have the carrying capacity at the back."

There had been talk of the pick-up even being built in NSW, but that seems to have cooled, with the ute now expected to arrive from China.

"We know so many people are interested, and so many people want to transition (to an EV)," Todd says.