SPY PICS: Baby BYD ute spotted

It’s no secret BYD plans to expand its range of utes and pick-up trucks with the larger Shark 8 all but confirmed, though even we didn’t see this coming – a compact ute.

An unidentified BYD ute caught on camera in China could be the BYD Shark 5, a rival to the likes of the Ford Maverick, Hyundai Santa Cruz and even the Toyota Stout.

The images posted by Chinese auto website Dongchedi show the compact load lugger sitting on the top rung of a transport trailer, surrounded by other BYD vehicles including the Yangwang U8 luxury large SUV.

While the Shark 6 is sold in places like Australia and Mexico, racking up big sales in the process, Chinese buyers have been left watching from the sidelines like kids with their noses pressed against a showroom window – which is where this vehicle may come in and cater to the domestic market.

Akin to Geely’s Rader or Riddara RD6 ute, it appears to be based on a monocoque or SUV-like chassis, but according to reports from China, it will be powered by the same PHEV powertrain as the Shark 6 with twin e-motors, a 28kWh LFP battery pack and a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol ‘generator’ engine.

Total powertrain output for the Shark 6 is 321kW/650Nm, but whether a smaller, lighter Shark 5 would need this much poke remains to be seen.

Given the 2.7 tonne BYD Shark 6 rips from 0-100km/h 5.7 seconds, this smaller ute would be an absolute weapon with the same mechanical heart and lungs.

And unlike the boxy, ladder frame body-on-frame Shark 6, this one’s got smoother, more car-like proportions with slanted C-pillars that hint at upmarket pretensions.

Ultimately these images create more questions than answers – is this a China-only Shark or will it be a global model? Is it a Shark and or something else entirely?

But one thing’s certain. BYD isn’t done shaking up the ute game and this time they’re playing on home turf.

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