Cheaper BYD Shark 6 ute coming

Australia's first plug-in hybrid (PHEV) ute, the BYD Shark 6, has been an unmitigated success in Australia, leapfrogging the Mitsubishi Triton and Nissan Navara in the sales race thus far in 2025 – with just one circa-$60K Premium model-grade.

But a swarm of electron-enabled competitors is about to crash the party, including the GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV, the Ford Ranger PHEV and a parade of others, such as the wild JAC T9 Hunter PHEV ute that pumps out a thunderous 1000Nm of torque.

Even the butch new 300kW Nissan Frontier Pro PHEV is in the frame for Australia.

BYD is acutely aware of the changing of the guard in the one-tonne hybrid ute segment and is working on deploying a second Shark 6 model-grade to shore up its defenses to protect its growing slice of the pick-up pie.

When a more affordable circa-$50,000 Shark 6 'Essential' model-grade arrives, the disruptive pick-up truck could even begin trading blows with league leaders Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux.

The 2025 BYD Shark 6 Premium is a $57,900 proposition and packs a lot of equipment and dual e-motors but it's now clear the Chinese car giant is considering a second model grade – potentially with a single e-motor – to fight cheaper rivals.

The CEO of BYD's Australian importer, EVDirect, told carsales his product planning team wants to 'keep things simple' with a small number of variants.

Company boss David Smitherman also took a swipe at traditional rivals that have countless model-grades – including the upcoming Kia Tasman, which will comprise 24 different variants when it lobs mid-2025.

"I look at the [Shark's] competitors and of course the number and complexity in the model line-up for some of our rivals is just absurd," said Smitherman.

"It makes it too hard for consumer, makes it too hard for the dealers. So our preference is to go very simple to start with.

"This is our first year [in market] but clearly the interest is high and we'd like to diversify at the right time," he explained.

It's not clear when the cheaper Shark 6 Essential will arrive but an early 2026 proposition seems likely. Whether it gets a single e-motor or just a reduced power dual e-motor setup (and potentially a smaller battery pack) to reduce the price of admission is not yet known.

BYD has also confirmed a larger, full-size pick-up to rival the Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra is in the works, likely to be called the Shark 7 or Shark 8 and potentially packing a stump-pulling quad motor setup with up to 880kW of power – enough electricity to power a small town.

The Chinese challenger brand is looking to take on the Ford Everest and Toyota Prado as well, with the rugged Bao 5 large 4x4 SUV very much in the frame for Aussie deployment, with a late 2025 arrival possible.

As for the Shark 6, with only the one upmarket Shark 6 Premium model-grade on sale at present, the hybrid ute is already currying favor with buyers.

In March 2025 it was the third most popular ute in Australia, its 2810 sales accounting for 15% share of the 4x4 ute segment, behind only the Toyota HiLux (3360 sales) with 17.6% share and the dominant Ford Ranger (4687) with almost 25 per cent market share.

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