Recent global news has BYD and Tesla racing for global EV domination with China being the key battleground for sales volume. Though while everyone is talking about global markets and looking at the strengths and weaknesses of both brands, BYD Australia has quietly worked away in 2023 to reach sales of 12,438 cars in 2023.
When BYD launched their first Sydney megastore in September last year, Luke Todd, CEO at EV Direct, told Fleet EV News that they were ready for growth after building brand awareness amongst consumers and fleet buyers were part of their long term growth plans.
To support the volume aspirations BYD launched two new models in 2023. First to was the Dolphin which is a small car priced under $40,000, then they released the Seal which is a medium sized sedan targeted squarely at the Tesla Model 3.
At the launch of the Seal, Tim Cahill, former Socceroo and partner in EV Direct, described the Seal as a luxury sports car that aligns with his personal brand which is a different position to the budget priced Dolphin and value based ATTO 3.
The ATTO 3 was the best selling model with 11,042 units delivered compare to 2,113 in 2022. With only several months to complete deliveries in 2023 the Dolphin achieved 926 units (236 in December), and the Seal achieved 471 which were all delivered in December. If the monthly run rate for the Dolphin and Seal increase like the ATTO 3 has over time, BYD could reach 30,000 cars in 2024.
While the 2023 sales results is a long way behind the 46,166 cars delivered by Tesla, they are in second place locally for electric car sales and a long way ahead of the traditional manufacturers which are still struggling with supply despite local government policies (FBT Exemption on EV and PHEV) creating an increase in demand.
BYD plans to launch more models to attract more customers and market rumours suggest a dual cab electric ute will catch the interest of company fleets that are looking for zero emission solution for their commercial vehicles.
