BYD targets provincial Australia for growth

BYD Australia will focus on growing its presence in smaller cities and provincial centres as it seeks to establish itself as a top auto brand Down Under.

Speaking to carsales after the visit of the Chinese auto brand's senior leadership to Australia this week, BYD Australia CEO David Smitherman confirmed the company's second stage of growth locally would be driven by a focus on increasing its footprint outside of Australian capital cities.

He confirmed the brand’s target of more than 70 dealerships by the end of this year.

“It’s really about getting a national footprint,” Smitherman told carsales.

“We have a lot of metropolitan dealers, but we don’t have dealers in the country. We don’t have dealers in Port Macquarie or Tamworth or Albury-Wodonga. And it’s about getting those areas covered off,” the ex-Ateco Automotive executive stated.

According to Smitherman, BYD has 13 dealerships under construction currently and has identified 34 new locations in its “second phase” of growth.

Regional cities such as Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat are on the list. With existing stores, that should take BYD’s total by year’s end to 72, he revealed.

And most, he said, would be full sales and service locations.

Dealer interest is high, said Smitherman, who labelled BYD as the “hottest brand on the planet” and the interest goes beyond the Chinese brand’s retail agreement with listed dealer group AP Eagers.

“We’re inundated with people who want to become dealers. There may well be a mix of that [Eagers group dealers] and of course we work with the group. But… they’ll be BYD dealers [first] I guess is probably the answer I’m looking for… Even our existing dealers aren’t Eagers dealers, they’re BYD dealers,” Smitherman commented.

“Looking at what’s happened in China, and evidenced by the team that came and saw us this week, there is a significant amount of product that’s going to come our way, and we want to prepare for the growth. We’re also preparing with aftersales as well and making sure that we’re looking after the customer the whole way through.”

Smitherman says SUVs and light commercials will be a focus of the new product rollout Down Under. BYD’s first mid-size SUV for Australia, the plug-in hybrid Seal U, is due to go on sale next month.

It and a plug-in hybrid ute – due to arrive in late 2024 – will join BYD Australia’s existing three-model EV range, which comprises the pioneering Atto small SUV, and the newly-released Dolphin hatch and the Seal sedan.

“The priority is always going to be SUV and it is the segment that we’re focused on at the moment. And obviously ute as well at the back end of this year,” said Smitherman.

“But with the recent trip of the executives from headquarters, we’ve been able to explain how the Australian market works. They’ve seen what’s on the roads and we’re focused on a wider product offering.

“We know Australians love their utes, and so we’ll have product in that space,” Smitherman confirmed.

The local BYD boss is also talking up the prospects of PHEV technology for the hitherto EV-only brand in Australia.

“For us, there is a big push on plug-in hybrid. It’s probably the focus of the business and I think that’s where we are going to really continue to grow.

“You’ll see the business will have offerings of both EV and plug-in hybrid. We’re going to have product for everyone in new energy vehicle classifications,” he stated.

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