BYD Yuan Plus delayed for Australia

Chinese electric car-maker BYD insists its Australian launch remains on track despite ongoing production and shipping delays.

In August this year, BYD’s Australian distributor Nexport announced the brand’s first model, the BYD Yuan Plus SUV, would be available to order from October for a starting price of around $35,000courtesy of a new ‘direct to consumer’ sales model.

The Yuan Plus was set to join the EA1 electric hatchback in the initial model line-up, as BYD targeted the MG ZS EV ($44,990 drive-away) for bragging rights as Australia’s cheapest electric vehicle.

Due to production arrangements, BYD officials have since decided the SUV will in fact be its first model on sale locally.

Today, Nexport chief executive Luke Todd has confirmed the Australian rollout has been delayed “by a couple of months” because of production and shipping setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Todd is adamant that BYD’s Australian rollout is still on track, slamming recent reports that he believes unfairly targets the fledgling local operation.

“We’re not only still on track, we’re all guns blazing,” Todd told carsales.

“It’s all happening behind the scenes, there’s certain things that I can’t reveal as yet because we have information that we have to keep confidential until an official announcement.

“What I can say is the amount of effort that is going on behind the scenes to bring top-level cars in at an affordable price and that will completely revolutionise the Australian market is so big it’s hard to fathom.

“This is a good thing for the community, it is a good thing for the environment.”

Car-makers across the board in Australia have been hit with delays caused by a perfect storm of computer chip shortages, production setbacks and shipping delays.

BYD’s is yet to formally open the order books for the Yuan Plus in Australia. Asked when that would occur, and about the timeline for physical deliveries, Todd declined to comment.

“I’m not going to provide any further information at this point,” he said.

“[In light of recent reports], we’re going to be much more controlled about our messaging, I can’t give dates or anything for a while.”

Todd did confirm that BYD still plans to launch six electric models in Australia between now and 2023.

“We are 100 per cent still on track, the only change is we’ve had some challenges with COVID-19 and shipping – as anyone in the industry will know – is absolutely abhorrent out of Asia at the moment. You’re paying four times the price of what you normally would, that’s just a smaller issue,” he said.

“We decided to alter the timing of our models, and being a larger vehicle, the Yuan Plus will be more attractive to a wider audience.

“That’s impacted timing by a couple of months – not a year or anything else. We are 100 per cent on track to make a major impact and some of the major announcements that are coming with our supply partners and so on will put all of this to bed.”