Rapidly growing Chinese car giant BYD has started to showcase one of Australiaās most affordable EVs by offering an in-person viewing of the car to current and future customers.
According to a post on Facebook, the BYD Dolphin has now appeared at the inner-city BYD experience centre in Indooroopilly, an inner-city suburb of Brisbane.Ā
The invitation details that the Indooroopilly store will be one of the first locations where the Dolphins can be seen in person. It is available at this location for a limited time which suggests a roadshow for Australiaās most-affordable EV across multiple locations.
The Driven spoke to BYD importer EV Direct’s chief operations officer, Mark Harland, who confirmed this along with hinting at the high interest being generated by the Dolphin:
“We now have some early production Dolphins for display (only) in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth (en route) that are generating lots of interest,”.
Harland expanded on the high interest in the compelling electric hatchback by highlighting what the brand has seen from the vehicle leasing industry.
“[We are] getting lots of requests for info (on Dolphin) from novated lease companies because of the compelling price point.”
Over the weekend, those that attended shared their in-person viewing impressions of the car. āI have just been to Indooroopilly to see the Dolphin and I absolutely love it! Can’t wait until mine gets delivered š,ā a visitor to the showcase said.
According to one of the visitors, there also appeared to be a bit of a crowd around the BYD experience centre with people looking at the Dolphin, clearly showing the level of interest in this electric hatchback.Ā
The BYD Dolphin has been one of the most highly anticipated cars for 2023 due to its starting price and the electric hatchback factor.Ā
With a starting price of $38,890 – before on roads – and its eligibility for a $6,000 EV subsidy in Queensland, itās bound to gain popularity at the BYD experience centres in Queensland.
It was also in Queensland, where the car was officially unveiled to the public back in June. Less than two months later, itās being showcased to Queensland customers.
As of mid-August, the estimated delivery timeframe for new customer orders is āSep/Oct 2023ā which suggests a strong supply of the Dolphin before the end of the year.
The BYD Indooroopilly store is in the same location where the BYD Atto 3 was unveiled for Queensland customers, over a year ago in July 2022.Ā
Itās great to see BYD starting to put the Dolphin in front of current and future EV drivers. The more people can experience that affordable EVs are here, the more theyād be compelled to make the switch. We look forward to test-driving the Dolphin when it lands.
RizĀ 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.