BYD News

Is BYD's Shark 6 all it's cracked up to be?

Currently ranked as the world’s sixth-largest carmaker (by unit volume) and biggest EV producer, it appears BYD is suffering demand headwinds, particularly in its Chinese home market, leading to a significant production slowdown.According to sources “with knowledge of the matter” quoted by global news agency Reuters, production at some factories has been “cut by at least a third”, leading to reduced shifts and a rethink on plans to add new manufacturing capacity.Said to be grappling with rising inventory, even after sharpening the pricing pencil in China's cut-throat new vehicle market, BYD has allegedly cancelled night shifts at “at least four factories”.BYD sold 4.27 million cars in 2025, the majority in China, and has publicly targeted a close to 30 per cent rise in sales to 5.5 million this year.It’s important to note Reuters was unable to quantify the precise scope of the production slowdown or confirm how long these measures will last.One of its sources pinned the primary cause on cost saving measures, while the other highlighted failure to meet sales targets.But the report quotes data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showing growth of BYD’s output had slowed to 13 per cent and 0.2 per cent (year-on-year) in April and May, respectively. The data show that’s the slowest rate of growth since February 2024 when production was briefly disrupted by a week-long Lunar New Year holiday.At the same time, the report references a survey conducted by the China Automotive Dealer Association in May finding domestic BYD dealers were holding average inventory of 3.21 months, the highest among all brands in China (against an industry-wide average of 1.38 months).It also points to a ‘government-owned’ media report stating that, “a large BYD dealer in the eastern province of Shandong has gone out of business with at least 20 of its stores found to be deserted or shut.”Reuters said the Chinese car industry’s virtual exclusion from the US market, thanks to 100 per cent import tariffs, in part led the China Auto Dealers Chamber of Commerce's call on carmakers in early June to “stop offloading too many cars on domestic dealerships” and to set “reasonable” production targets based on sales performance. In the first five months of this year, BYD sold 1.76 million vehicles, of which around 20 per cent were exported, with even greater focus on global markets likely in future.In Australia, BYD sales continue to skyrocket with year-to-date registrations up no less than 95 per cent year-on-year, thanks in no small part to the recent introduction of the Shark 6 ute as well as the Sealion 6 and Sealion 7 SUVs, with more new model arrivals coming soon.When contacted for comment a BYD Australia spokesperson told CarsGuide, "BYD continues to enjoy strong growth in Australia with sales up significantly year-on-year."With so much exciting new product in the pipeline for the back half of this year, we expect that to continue," they said.

The BYD Seagull could be Australia’s cheapest electric car, but there’s no guarantee the little EV will make it Down Under.BYD is actively working on a business case for the Seagull, there are a number of things standing in its way.CarsGuide drove the Seagull in China recently and it is a fun, funky and surprisingly spacious little electric hatch with loads of personality.BYD Australia Senior Manager Product Planning and Pricing Sajid Hasan said the company is deep into a business case for the tiny EV.“We’re just working through the final stages of the business case, so we want to make sure that if we launch this product, that we can have it set at a price that is competitive and meets the customer's expectations,” he told CarsGuide.There are a few factors complicating the business case. One is the fact that it would have to be priced lower than its stablemate, the BYD Dolphin small electric hatch, which is already one of the most affordable EVs in Australia.The Dolphin Essential now starts at $29,990 before on-road costs and given the Seagull is smaller, it would have to kick off somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000.The other consideration is the fact that there are technically two different versions of the car. There is the Chinese domestic market Seagull and there is a right-hand-drive market version called the Dolphin Surf.The Dolphin Surf looks exactly like the Seagull, but there are key differences to underpinnings. It measures about 200mm longer than the Seagull and has more safety gear.The Chinese Seagull comes with a 55kW electric motor and a choice of a 30.1kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery or 38.9kWh ‘Blade’ battery for a driving range of 305km and 405km respectively on China’s lenient CLTC protocol.A Dolphin Surf ups power to 65kW or 116kW and the top grades have a 43kWh battery. The driving range is up to 322km on the more realistic WLTP protocol.Hasan cautioned that it’s unwise to assume the price of the Chinese-market Seagull (equivalent of US$12,000) would transfer across to Australia unchanged, given “we wouldn't be getting the left-hand-drive domestic-market” version here.At today’s exchange rate, a UK-spec Dolphin Surf starts from £18,650, which converts to AUD$39,000. It’s unlikely the price would be anywhere near that if it gets the green light for Australia.He said the micro/light passenger car segment is a challenge for BYD as it is dominated by affordable internal combustion engine cars like the Kia Picanto and MG3 that start from around $20,000.Other factors complicate keeping a car like this super affordable in Australia, Hasan said.“Dealer delivery fees can be quite expensive for some brands and BYD doesn't charge any dealer delivery. So the difference between our recommended retail price to our driveway price is pretty much the bare minimum when… compared to many other brands.”Keep an eye on CarsGuide.com.au for updates on the BYD Seagull/Dolphin Surf’s Australian fate.

China is about to have far fewer electric car brands if BYD gets its way.The carmaking behemoth triggered a price war in China, which could squeeze out many small and mid-size electric car brands.BYD’s Executive Vice President, Stellar Li, told Bloomberg consolidation across the Chinese electric car sector was likely as the market matures.“It’s very extreme, tough competition,” Li saidXPeng has previously said there would be a massive reduction in Chinese electric car brands in the future.The boss of XPeng’s local importer TrueEV, Jason Clarke, told CarsGuide late last year the word from China is not all new brands will survive.“There’s more like 200 , and the chairman of XPeng said only seven will survive. So, he clearly thinks he’s going to be one of them,” he said.It now appears because of BYD’s dramatic price cuts, this might happen sooner rather than later.Head honchos of Chinese giants GWM and Geely have both expressed concern at the latest round of price cuts in China.GWM Chairman, Wei Jianjun, said the industry already has its own Evergrande, referring to the Chinese property developer that faced a multi-billion dollar debt crisis and collapsed amid liquidation.“If it continues like this, the safety of China’s auto industry will be seriously threatened,” said Mr Wei to Sina Finance in an interview translated to English.Wei said that not only margins, but quality control could take a hit as a result of price-cutting.“Some products have been reduced from 220,000 yuan to 120,000 yuan in the past few years,” he said.“What kind of industrial products can be reduced by 100,000 yuan and still have quality assurance? Well this is absolutely impossible.”Geely has warned about severe over capacity within the Chinese and global auto industry, and has promised to not build anymore factories.Even China’s automotive industry ministry weighed in on the price war.“There are no winners in a price war, let alone a future”, said the China Association of Auto Manufacturers (CAAM), which also alluded to the idea that some cars are being sold below cost."Apart from reducing the price of goods according to law, enterprises shall not dump goods at prices below cost," CAAM said, according to Reuters.BYD has even said it is unsustainable to continue down this path, but has not said it would wind back its aggressive pricing strategy.“No, it’s not sustainable,” said Li.So far the price wars are centred in China with the carmakers’ export markets remaining unaffected for now.The door is always open to increased incentives in global markets as Chinese brands fight for market share and to fulfill their unused production capacity.Bloomberg has previously reported the Chinese EV sector is using less than 50 per cent of its production capacity.

BYD is part of a growing list of car brands that conduct testing and calibration work in Australia to ensure its models are better suited to the conditions.

One of BYD’s flagship models, the wild Yangwang U8 luxury off-roader, is actively being considered for an Australian launch, but it needs to jump some hurdles before it’s locked in.

The boss of tech giant Xiaomi, Lei Jun, has confirmed launch timing of the company’s much-anticipated first SUV model, the YU7. Arriving before the end of June, the YU7 joins the SU7 which has shot to explosive popularity in China as an aspirational and locally-produced electric sports sedan. For context, the SU7 secured nearly 90,000 pre-orders when it went on sale in March of 2024.

BYD is gearing up for a massive new-model rollout that should cement its place in Australia's top 10 car brands.

Chinese cars aren’t just about being the budget option anymore, and their ability to act fast, take risks and disregard the status quo is an existential threat to some of the world’s biggest manufacturers in Australia.I’ve increasingly had these thoughts as I’ve been driving ambitious new Chinese cars week-to-week against new offerings from their more established European, Japanese, and Korean rivals.It’s not as though these new offerings aren’t riddled with issues, some of them mundane and others extremely frustrating as you can read about in our recent reviews of cars like the Leapmotor C10, Geely EX-5, and Jaecoo J8. But outside the pricing and sheer speed to market, it’s the complete lack of fear to try something new which is making them stand out even in the most congested market segments.My favourite recent examples include Zeekr’s wild 009 performance people mover and the smaller but absurdly modular Mix, as well as the 7X electric mid-size SUV.There’s XPeng’s range of cars, from the surprisingly tidy G6, which has already arrived in Australia, alongside the soon-to-arrive G9 large SUV and Mona M03 sedan.Most recently there’s the wild GWM Tank 700, a $100k-plus twin-turbo V6 plug-in hybrid off-road monster clearly designed to rival some of the biggest names in the industry like G-Wagen, Defender and LandCruiser.That’s not to mention BYD’s mould-breaking Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute, which has single-handedly upended the predominantly diesel segment and suddenly made heroes of the post-Falcon and Commodore era like the HiLux and D-Max look relatively antiquated.These new Chinese options have a lot in common. They have ambitious futuristic designs, feature-laden cabins with clever software features (albeit not all of them good) and a complete disregard for established industry norms.Performance people mover? Any other manufacturer would say a resounding ‘no’ to that, but Zeekr and XPeng both reckon they can simply create the hype for one out of thin air.Even just the concept of people movers in general. Toyota’s local division constantly dismisses the idea of bringing its luxurious Alphard to our market, despite the fact that it consistently ranks as Australia’s most popular grey import and sold in numbers orders of magnitude greater than the now-discontinued and diesel-only Granvia, which the brand offered as an also-ran alternative thanks to its parts commonality with the HiAce.Yet soon Australia will be again flooded with people mover offerings from the likes of BYD’s Denza brand as well as Xpeng and Zeekr, an existential threat to the Kia Carnival, which has remained largely unchallenged for the last few years.Even the entire concept of a Chinese semi-luxury brand like Jaecoo or Zeekr would have been scoffed at a handful of years ago, yet here they are, and not with one or two models, but fully-fledged line-ups.You can go even more granular than that. Recently I had a new Suzuki Swift ‘hybrid’ as a long-termer. It’s a sweet little car and technically ticks a lot of boxes for the intended buyer. The issue? It goes into battle against the new MG3.There’s a few problems with this. Firstly, the Suzuki feels like a facelift of the previous car, rather than a new-generation as claimed, and secondly, it’s not a ‘real hybrid’ in the sense that there’s no electric motor large enough to independently drive the wheels.In comparison, the MG launches with a clean-sheet, screen-centric interior (for better or worse), and an interesting dedicated hybrid transmission system with plenty of electric driving potential. Again, the MG is far from perfect, but it’s the relative ambition on show which could make or break a sale.Another example I drove recently was the Audi Q6 e-tron. It’s a great luxury mid-size electric SUV. The problem is, Volkswagen Group made a big song and dance about its brand-new PPE platform as though it was going to revolutionize the space, and the problem is the end product is just good when it needs to be stellar.In comparison, the Zeekr 7X I drove at the end of 2024 in China completely outgunned my expectations. It’s a similar offering; a ground-up new mid-size luxury electric SUV, but it brings a surprisingly plush interior (in some aspects, nicer than the Audi), with very clever software features, a coherent and innovative design and solid motor and battery specs.Zeekr was so confident we’d be impressed by it, they brought a current BMW X5 for us to test it against, and, to put it simply, the 7X felt much more a product of today. Plus it looks set to cost closer to $75k than the $100k of the base Q6.Now I'll stop at this point to add the caveat that just because these new offerings are ambitious - whether it's their design, price, market segment, or features - they're not always objectively better vehicles.The point is: at both ends of the price spectrum now, Chinese brands are putting the pressure on and tempting buyers away at a time where traditional brands can't afford to lose their audience.You don’t even need to take my word for it. It’s clear as day in the latest VFACTs figures for new car registrations in Australia.At the low end of the market, the squeeze is undeniable. The once-dominating Suzuki is down 19.8 per cent this year as it faces particular pressure from both MG and Chery, and cult hero SsangYong from Korea is taking a big hit as GWM and JAC muscle in on the territory of its humble Musso ute, the brand’s sales also dropping 27.6 per cent year-on-year.Even Mitsubishi is struggling to keep up, its affordable ASX now discontinued and new competition particularly fierce in the same segments as its core Triton ute and Outlander mid-sizer.BYD’s surge to the front of the EV charts has the once-dominant Tesla on the ropes for the first time, and it’s clear that some niche parts of the market are struggling to deal with the new car landscape, with Volvo down 21 per cent year-on-year and Jeep down 20.8 per cent.Granted it’s hard to attribute new Chinese players purely to these issues, with some ageing product no doubt to blame, but it’s worth pondering whether the lost volume will ever be recovered with so much competition tempting buyers away.Some traditional players are fairing better than others. Toyota is stable thanks to a steady stream of refreshed versions of its popular range of hybrids (although a question mark hangs above its ageing HiLux), while Kia and Hyundai take a different path, leaning into offering a diverse range of hybrids and electric cars with their own ambitious design allure.None of this will last. Despite a new range of ambitious products, even the once trailblazing MG is feeling a bit of heat, down 12.7 per cent this year as it tries to outgrow its cheap and cheerful phase, the mantle of which has been taken up by Chery.No doubt the same fate could await its contemporaries, as even more Chinese brands have designs on the Australian market - widely seen as a microcosm of other markets like the US and Europe - a perfect testbed for global expansion plans.Eventually the dust will settle, but how many automakers - new or old - will survive an increasingly intense race to 2030 seems impossible to tell.

How much does an electric vehicle (EV) cost? It’s a bit like asking ‘how long is a piece of string’, because obviously EVs come in various shapes, sizes and brands, but there has been a common answer in recent years - too much.