Following the reveal of the BYD Shark 6’s $57,900 (before on-road costs) starting price, BYD Importer EVDirect was quick to beat its chest.
With the first shipment spoken for, an excited CEO Luke Todd issued a statement that read: “We knew the market was wanting a vehicle of this calibre but to see so many orders so quickly has taken us by surprise.”
“What gives me even more confidence that the Shark 6 will end up being the number one vehicle sold in Australia is that we haven’t even started test drives.”
So, how many orders were taken? Over 2000 is the official answer, which is big for BYD that has notched up 15,181 sales this year, but is less than half the monthly sales regularly achieved by the Toyota HiLux (5776 in September) and Ford Ranger (5429 in September).
To be fair to Todd, he didn’t issue a timeframe for when the Shark 6 will become Australia’s number one vehicle. Presumably, it won’t be immediately and if it is, it won’t be for a sustained period. At least, not with the one trim offered.
Supply shouldn’t be a huge issue, though, said BYD. The first shipment of 2000 Shark 6s is on its way to Aussie ports and apparently there’s another 1000 in China poised to board a boat. Still, BYD needs a lot more volume if it’s to outsell HiLux and Ranger.
The brand has plans, fleet-oriented ones. Of the many HiLuxes and Rangers sold, more than ever before are to private buyers but the share of business, fleet and government sales is still huge.
From local brickies to BHP, it’s this next frontier BYD has to climb to take number one and that won't be easy. Naturally, it starts with discounts.
Starting with fleets between 20-99 cars BYD is offering a 4.0 per cent discount climbing to 6.0 per cent for those over 100 vehicles and a blanket 6.0 per cent discount on state and federal government departments, agencies and not-for-profit organisations.
In addition to the discount, there’s no dealer delivery fee on these deals. This offering applies to all of BYD’s current models including the Dolphin, Atto 3 and Seal electric cars along with the Sealion 6 and Shark 6 plug-in hybrids.
For reference, non-private sales have accounted for 47 per cent of the Australian new-car sales this year. The vast majority (38.1 per cent) are ‘business’, which includes fleets much smaller than 20 cars, but government (3.4 per cent) and rental (5.4 per cent) make up a good number of the 888,964 sales to the end of September.
Price may not pose an issue but capability, in particular, could hurt the Shark’s potential for mining and infrastructure-focused fleets.
The Shark 6’s 750kg payload, four-wheel double wishbone suspension and 2500kg towing capacity may prove suitable for private buyers but will limit the Shark 6’s usefulness compared to the 1000kg-plus and 3500kg towing that is standard for class leaders such as the HiLux and Ranger.
Give it time after the Shark 6's launch and it is likely we will see more variants: a stripped-out, no nonsense fleet-oriented model, perhaps with a single cab option, would be a great place to start.
Then, a flagship HiLux Rogue and Ranger Tremor rival could boost sales at the upper echelon of private buyers. But it seems unlikely the range will ever rival the Ranger, HiLux, D-Max, Triton or other for sheer choice.
With the fleet incentives in place BYD’s prospects as a top-10 brand look stronger than ever and a changing of the guard has happened before. The number one vehicle sold in Australia? That is a very bold claim for BYD to make but never say never.