BYD and its local distributor EVDirect in Australia have announced that they have received nearly 4,000 orders for their Shark 6 ute, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) with a starting price of $57,990 before on-roads.
In less than four weeks of launching the Shark 6, order books have filled up in anticipation of this ute, which has dimensions similar to those of the Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger while offering vehicle-to-load (V2L) capability.
“We knew there was a very strong appetite for SHARK in Australia, but the response has been nothing short of exceptional,” said David Smitherman, CEO of EVDirect.
“We’re excited to welcome customers into our Experience Centres where they can test drive and experience the full capabilities of the Shark 6 for themselves. We’re seeing the true impact of this momentum in sales and enquiries and are confident the Shark will be a staple on Aussie roads as of next year,”.
On the launch night, BYD also offered $500 worth of complimentary accessories for the first 2000 orders. This along with the hype around the Shark 6 took the BYD automotive’s website down for hours but despite this, nearly 2,000 orders were received within 48 hours.
Coming equipped with a 29.58 kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) blade battery, BYD says the car provides 100 kilometres of pure electric range and a total driving range of 800 kilometres, offering drivers outstanding fuel efficiency.
The Shark 6 has two electric motors, one on each axle. The front motor delivers 170 kW and 310 Nm, while the rear motor can output up to 150 kW and 340 Nm.
These motors are fed by the blade battery pack which can also be charged using a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine.
On the towing front, the Shark 6 has a reasonable 2.5-tonne braked towing capacity, which could be eclipsed by the upcoming LDV e-Terron 9, which has a claimed towing capacity of 3.5 tonnes.
According to the Shark 6 online configurator, it’s currently available in three colours: Great White, Tidal Black, and Deep Sea Blue.
It’s worth noting that Tidal Black and Deep Sea Blue are a $700 option over the Great White.
The First Shark 6 production vehicles will be heading to Australia next month, and customer deliveries are expected to start in late January.
With nearly 4,000 orders under BYD’s belt, it’d be interesting to see how Q1 2025 shapes up for the company in Australia.
Having driven a pre-production Shark 6 ute last month in Victoria, it is a product that many traditional ICE ute makers should be paying attention to if they are to have cleaner offerings in the coming years. Clearly nearly 4,000 drivers already have.
See our review of the Shark 6 here.
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.