BYD to launch in Australia this Saturday with Atto 3

The affordable EV segment is about to heat up following BYD’s confirmation that it will officially launch in Australia this Saturday with the release of the BYD Atto 3, nameplate that won’t ring any bells for local buyers.

That’s because the BYD Atto 3 is known in other markets as the BYD Yuan Plus; an all-electric compact SUV that’s been on the cards for our market since August last year.

Despite several months of delays following COVID-19 related shipping interruptions, the BYD Atto 3 should still be in line to scalp the MG ZS EV as Australia’s most affordable electric SUV, but we’ll have to wait until Saturday evening for confirmation of that.

According to the official media invite, the brand launch will take place at the flagship ‘EV Experience Centre’ in Sydney on Saturday night, with pricing and specification levels to be released at 7:00pm (AEDT).

The Atto 3 will be the first BYD model offered in Australia from launch, following limited releases of the BYD e6 people-mover and BYD T3 commercial van, but the EVDirect online sales portal, BYD’s local distributor, has promised to deliver a total of six electric BYD models here by 2023.

This sets up something of a Chinese civil war in Australia’s affordable EV space, in which MG Motor already offers two electrified models including the aforementioned MG ZS EV and MG HS PHEV, while GWM is on the cusp of launching its ORA electric sub-brand here following a frenzy of trademark applications.

Overseas versions of the Yuan Plus are powered 150kW/330Nm electric motor paired to either a 50.1kWh (standard range) or 60.1kWh (extended range) lithium-ion battery developed in house by BYD.

In standard range form, the battery-powered compact SUV should be able to cover up to 430Nm on the NEDC cycle, whereas the extended-range variant is claimed to cover 510km.

If these outputs and driving ranges ring true in Australia, both versions of the BYD Atto 3 will comfortably out-muscle the 105kW/353Nm MG ZS EV, while the extended-range version should offer almost double the range.

As for what other BYD models EVDirect could bring to Australia, there’s no shortage of SUVs and passenger cars in BYD’s global portfolio but the most interesting ones would have to be an electric dual-cab ute currently under development and the BYD Ocean-X mid-size performance concept.

Along with another sub-$35,000 EV, the BYD EA1 hatch, both models are likely to be sold in Australia.

EVDdirect CEO Luke Todd confirmed to carsales last September the EV pick-up was “in our roadmap for 2023”, while the Ocean-X concept was spotted (and can still be seen via Google Maps Street View) on the window of the Sydney EV Experience Centre back in December (pictured).

Todd said there were no immediate local plans for the Ocean-X when it debuted in concept form back in September, but the performance potential of the model is huge going by BYD’s own numbers.

According to BYD, the Ocean-X will hit 100km/h in just 2.9 seconds while its e-platform 3.0 – the same one underpinning the Atto 3 – is said to be good for up to 1000km of driving between charges.

We’ll be in attendance on Saturday night, so sit tight for more details.

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