BYD distances itself from former distributor’s ambitious plans for market dominance

Now selling cars under factory control, BYD has set more modest expectations for its sales growth in Australia after ambitious targets to overtake Toyota were laid out by its former distributor EVDirect.

BYD Australia has seemingly stepped back from the bold goal set by its former independent distributor to topple Toyota and become the country’s top-selling new-vehicle brand by the end of the decade.

An ambition to become Australia’s Number One brand in less than a decade was set in late 2023 by EVDirect, the former distributor of BYD cars in Australia, which handed back the reins to a factory-backed BYD head office operation in July.

To become Number One in Australia, BYD would need to deliver more than 200,000 vehicles annually – up from about 20,000 last year – and dethrone a brand that has topped the charts for the past 23 years.

And while topping the charts is still an eventual goal, BYD Australia Head of Product Sajid Hasan told Drive that sales and position are only some of the brand’s markers for success.

MORE: BYD goes fully factory-backed in Australia, cutting EVDirect from distributorship

“I think everyone wants to get to Number One, but it’s a long way to get there,” Hasan told Drive.

“I think in the medium term, for us, it’s not so much ‘what position are we?’

“We want to bring out all of this technology to the masses and cool the Earth down by one degree and see a faster uptake of electrification in Australia.

“In terms of how many [sales] numbers that is? It is what it is. My mission is to get the products out there and priced appealingly so that it can speed up that uptake.”

MORE: BYD promises buyers ‘confidence’ after taking over from independent distributor

This is in contrast to remarks by former BYD importer and distributor EVDirect, which shepherded the Chinese brand for three years until this month and oversaw the launch of the Atto 3, Dolphin, Seal, Sealion 6, Sealion 7, and Shark 6.

EVDirect leadership had previously laid out bold targets and short timelines, in addition to BYD becoming the top automotive brand by the end of the decade.

“For our target of being a Top Five brand, it’s somewhere in 2025. And then we would continue to grow beyond 2026,” Luke Todd, then-current CEO of BYD’s Australian distributor EVDirect said in 2023.

“We believe that’s firmly achievable, with the product range we will have, the success we’ve had so far with the Atto 3, the price point of both the Dolphin and Seal, and the interest level we’ve had in both those vehicles since they launched.

MORE: BYD Sealion 8 – large SUV buyers have been ‘crying out for’

“So we’ve been very successful in the first 18 months, but our trajectory will continue to grow very strongly from here.”

To the end of May this year, BYD Australia is currently 12th on the sales charts, trailing the likes of Isuzu Ute, Subaru, Nissan, GWM, and MG with 15,199 sales, but ahead of more established brands like Volkswagen and Honda.

There are currently 15,342 sales between BYD and the Top Five brands, with Kia and Hyundai in fourth and fifth with 32,940 and 30,541 units, respectively.

MORE: BYD Atto 2 and Sealion 8 are only the start of Australian expansion plans

Replacing Todd in the CEO position in 2024, David Smitherman set less ambitious goals of doubling sales in that year, and again in 2025 off the back of new product rollouts.

However, BYD failed to hit last year’s goal, with sales in 2024 increasing 64.5 per cent to 20,458 units due to the launch of the Shark 6 falling in the latter months of the year, but not being delivered to customers until early in 2025.

So far this year, BYD sales are up 94.7 per cent to the end of May, with the Atto 2 small SUV still to come before 2026.

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After opening orders for the Shark 6 plug-in ute, Todd also claimed the new model would soon become the best-selling nameplate in Australia based on early pre-sale figures.

“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,” Todd said in October 2024.

“Once people drive the Shark 6, they will love it even more.”

MORE: Toyota Prado rival likely to lead BYD’s premium brand Denza launch in third quarter

While the Shark 6 did post big numbers when customers started taking delivery earlier this year, the cessation of the fringe benefit tax (FBT) exemption for PHEVs in April has brought down demand.

In February, VFACTS industry sales data recorded 2026 Shark 6s sold across January and February, increasing to 2810 in March, but tapering off to 1293 and 1302 in April and May, respectively.

Now with BYD controlling distributorship, the brand will launch the all-electric Atto 2 small SUV later this year, while the Sealion 8 plug-in hybrid large SUV is confirmed for an early 2026 arrival.

BYD will also launch its premium Denza brand later this year, expected to be spearheaded by the B5 rugged SUV.

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