BYD plans to outsell Toyota in Australia

BYD Auto has announced an ambitious new model and sales assault on Australia, where the Chinese car-maker says it plans to quickly become a top-five automotive brand on the way to becoming the most popular auto brand Down Under.

No timeline for the bold plan was announced in the lead-up to a media conference this afternoon, when BYD’s Asia Pacific general manager Liu Xueliang will detail the radical expansion strategy for the big Chinese car-maker’s Australian subsidiary, including the establishment of another 30 retail outlets within the next 18 months.

Many of the new outlets will incorporate dedicated service centres to cater for the rapidly increasing number of BYD vehicles on Australian roads, which will soon be backed up by dramatically increased stock levels.

“The expansion plans have been under discussion for many months and confirmed on the back of the recent successful launches of the BYD Dolphin and Seal,” BYD Australia said in a press release.

“The expansion plans will underpin the lofty goals of BYD to be a top five brand in Australia with aspirations of reaching the number one spot.”

Knocking Toyota from its perch will be no easy feat, given the Japanese car-maker will this month notch up 27 years of Australian market dominance, after posting its best year to date with 231,050 new vehicle sold in 2022.

BYD, on the other hand, arrived in Australia in February 2022 with the Atto 3 small SUV, which found 2113 Aussie homes last year and 9618 so far this year. It was joined by the Dolphin small hatch in October, when 100 examples were registered, and the Seal sedan will become BYD’s third model to arrive Down Under this month.

BYD Australia’s current three-model range will soon expand to six following the release of a ute, medium SUV and large SUV by the end of next year.

But with more record years likely on the way for Toyota as the world’s biggest car-maker clears its supply-related order backlog, BYD would have to sell about a quarter of a million cars per annum in order to take top spot.

Like many brands including Toyota, key to BYD’s success Down Under (apart from selling products Aussies want) will be the ready availability of stock – a key component of today’s expansion plan announcement.

“With this announcement comes the commitment from BYD to hold additional stock of EV’s [sic] in Australia,” BYD said.

“BYD is demonstrating to be a leader of the EV transition in Australia and this further commitment positions BYD as a company that can supply the increasing demand for electric vehicles with Australia.”

CEO of BYD’s Australian distributor EVDirect, Luke Todd, said: “We’ve seen the BYD brand grow substantially in the first 18 months of trade within Australia. Under these new arrangements with BYD, we will once again be setting a new benchmark of how the latest technologically advanced vehicles will be brought to Australia.

“Since launching in Australia EVDirect and BYD have demonstrated a streamlined supply chain which has resulted in unparalleled price points for their quality product range and strong supply capabilities. Under the new arrangements the supply chain will be even stronger.

“The launch of BYD has been the most successful new automotive brand launch in Australian history but we are just getting started. Since day one we’ve been committed to bringing the best quality electric vehicles to Australia at affordable prices.

“We have demonstrated this as we now have three high quality EV’s on the market all priced under $50,000. Under the new arrangements our supply chain will be further enhanced allowing us to reach even more customers and introduce an even wider range of models.

“What we are seeing is customers still waiting for supply of vehicles with other brands and therefore it is our belief this announcement is great news for Australian consumers with BYD having 5 models’ deliverable by 2024.”

We’ll update this article with more information and details after the media conference at 2:00pm today.

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