BYD Atto 3 prices hiked

The BYD Atto 3 is now more expensive following an eight per cent price increase yesterday.

But importer EV Direct doesn’t believe the higher prices will impact the compact SUV’s popularity, claiming there are upwards of 6000 orders yet to be delivered.

In a very Tesla-esque way, the Atto 3 increased prices appeared on BYD’s Australian website with no forewarning.

Importer EV Direct says the price rises were “unavoidable” in the face of increasing material costs.

“The cost of raw materials has increased significantly, lithium and various other components that make up electric vehicles,” says EV Direct managing director Luke Todd.

An email sent to those who have already ordered a vehicle says the price rises will not apply to them.

“As an existing order holder your vehicle price will remain the same and the price increase will not apply to your order,” the email states.

The price rises take the entry-level Atto 3 Standard from $44,381 before on-road costs to $48,011. The Atto 3 Extended, which has a larger battery pack for a longer range, is now $51,011 plus ORCs, having incurred the same $3630 increase.

At those new prices – which represent an 8.1 and 7.7 per cent increase respectively – the Atto 3 is still eligible for rebates offered in most parts of the country. So most buyers should be able to get at least $3000 back.

Depending on which state or territory you’re registering the vehicle in there will be on-road costs of between about $600 and $3800.

The Atto 3 price rise positions it further above another small Chinese electric SUV, the MG ZS EV, which is now comfortably the country’s most affordable EV, at $44,990 drive-away.

But it still significantly undercuts the Tesla Model Y ($72,300 plus ORCs), which is the country’s top selling electric EV and should soon overtake the Model 3 sedan as Australia’s favourite EV.

There are no changes to the Atto 3 as part of the price increase.

However, an imminent over-the-air software update that is due to add voice activation and Apple CarPlay connectivity in late December will be included in cars delivered from 2023.

Last month BYD reported its first sales figures with the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. It shows 845 Atto 3s were sold – representing 19 per cent of the EVs sold that month – although that includes all sales since deliveries started late in August.

Atto 3 deliveries have also been delayed due to an issue with local compliance around the centre rear child seat tether point, something that has since been addressed.

Todd says sales should now ramp up.

“We’ll close the year off comfortably above 2000 deliveries,” he says.

“We’re now back in full swing and with the 10 delivery centres we have nationwide and the strong support of our JV retail partner Eagers Automotive we’re now very well placed to catch up very quickly on any delays.”

BYD is currently estimating any orders placed today will be delivered in April or May 2023 and Todd says there “more than 6000” orders being held.

All of those orders are secured with a $1000 refundable deposit.

BYD won’t say how many people have cancelled orders – some on online forums are vocal about their frustration with delays and other hiccups – but admits there have been some.

He also says the arrival of the Tesla Model Y led to a spike in BYD order cancellations.

“We did notice a bit of a peak [in cancellations] when Tesla started to deliver the Model Y,” he says, suggesting some owners had orders in on both vehicles and decided to jump to the Tesla.

“That’s the risk that we run when we have a fully refundable deposit.”

Todd says BYD Australia will now be delivering 400-500 vehicles per month, which he says will continue into 2023.

“We’re looking more at the thousands [of deliveries] per month rather than hundreds.”

For everything you auto know about EVs, listen to carsales' Watts Under the Bonnet: the electric car podcast

Join the conversation at 

our Facebook page

Or email us at 

editor@carsales.com.au