See also a later breaking story: EV price war hots up in sub-$40,000 market as BYD cuts price of Dolphin
Chinese electric car giant BYD has quietly released the 2024 version of its popular Atto 3 electric SUV, along with a significant price cut for both variants of the vehicle.
Overnight, BYD updated its online configurator to reveal the 2024 Atto 3 with some key changes, and a price cut of around $3,500.
That means the 2024 BYD Atto 3 lineup starts at $44,499 for the Standard variant, which is down from $48,011 before on-road costs. The Extended range variant with the larger battery and a range of up to 480 km on the NEDC cycle now starts at $47,499. Previously this was on the market for $51,011 before on-road costs.
The move is just the latest in a series of price reductions from the likes of BYD, Tesla and a host of other EV makers as competition intensifies in the new car market, and as the price of batteries continues to fall.
On the outside, several key changes have been made to the right-hand-drive model heading to Australia which includes:
- New black paint colour (removes green and red paints from lineup)
- The rear fish scale pattern panels are now in black (previously silver)
- Rear “BYD” badge (previously “Build Your Dreams”)
BYD has also changed the tyres from Atlas Batman tyres which had previously been coming on Australian-delivered vehicles to new Continental Eco Contact 6 tyres.
Looking into the inside of the new 2024 Atto 3, there is now a larger new 15.6-inch rotating touchscreen. This will be a welcomed upgrade from the previous 12.8-inch screen.
This new screen is expected to be the one currently available on the BYD Seal in Australia which is rotatable in either portrait or landscape. It also has a resolution of 1920 x 1080, giving drivers a good mapping, media and infotainment experience.
BYD also states that the new model comes with a new “camping mode” which allows the owners to use the air conditioning if the vehicle battery is above 20%.
Given the rest of the dimensions are the same, the total boot space with the seats down remains at 1,340 litres.
On the powertrain front, everything remains the same on the front-wheel-drive motor which produces 150 kW and 310 Nm of peak torque.
The BYD Atto 3 popularity has made the third best-selling EV in 2023 with 11,042 sales. In 2024 so far, BYD has sold 3,375 Atto 3, making it one of the most popular EVs in the market.
As of the writing of this article, there are only a few vehicles available in inventory with a discount of $2,023 available on 2023 model-year cars that’s set to last until the end of the month.
There are also price cuts on some variants of the popular BYD Seal electric sedan which are likely to help the brand boost its sales and presence in the electric sedan market in June.
2024 BYD Atto 3 vehicles are expected to arrive in the coming months and we look forward to hearing from owners of the new model when it lands.
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.