BYD has opened one of its two experience centres in Melbourne for Victorian order holders and buyers. The experience centre has the BYD Atto 3 EVs on display and many more were seen to be parked in the rear awaiting customer deliveries over the coming weeks.
That comes at the same time as BYD officially announcing the construction of their first South East Asian factory in a country that’s commonly known as “Detroit of the east”, Thailand.
What could this mean for Australian and New Zealand buyers in the future given the demand we have seen with thousands of local orders on BYD’s books this year?
Melbourne experience centre opens with multiple Atto 3 on display
Hundreds of people attended the initial customer invite-only event to see the Atto 3 in person. For many, it was the first time seeing the EV they had ordered at launch, in person.
Now many more in Victoria and greater Melbourne can see these EVs in person at the Dandenong experience centre located in the southeast of Melbourne. It’s about 30 minutes drive from the CBD and is located on Lonsdale St in Dandenong.
I got a chance to speak to the staff, who were super enthusiastic about the first EV they are getting a chance to showcase. While being there, I saw multiple families come in and get to sit in the car and experience it in person.
On the inside of the experience centre, they had an Atto 3 EV which a young family was getting in and out of to see the space inside the car. The kids thought the rotating infotainment screen was out of this world and there are no other cars in Australia that offer that.
In the background, many Atto 3s could be seen parked, ready to be prepared for customer deliveries over the coming weeks. There would be many happy customers over the coming weeks that won’t miss filling up at a petrol station.
BYD Thailand factory to produce 150,000 EVs in 2024
Earlier this week, reports surfaced that BYD was expected to make an announcement to open a right-hand drive EV plant in Thailand. That’s now been made official with an official agreement signing ceremony between BYD and the industrial construction company.
The plant is expected to be operational by 2024 with an annual capacity of 150,000 EVs in the first year. BYD has also confirmed that they will be producing the BYD Atto 3 at the Thailand plant, an EV that customers in Australia have started to take deliveries on.
Ground up BYD Atto 3 EV deliveries come
Over the coming weeks, we’d have plenty of customers ready to take deliveries of their BYD Atto 3 EVs.
The most common comment I hear from recent owners and those looking at the car for the first time is how well this ground-up EV is built. If these impressions are anything to go by, thousands of BYD order holders will be very happy to receive their EVs over the coming months.
The next couple of years will be very exciting for the EV uptake in Australia as EV makers like Tesla, BYD and others increase supply significantly to help decarbonise our roads.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.