I took delivery of a BYD Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute in March of this year. The specs and pricing looked good, so it was worth the risk purchasing what was seen then as an untested product.
And after 8 months and 34,000 kms, I can say that I’m extremely happy with the product: The Shark 6 is great fun to drive, very practical for the tasks the family put it through, and so far appears to be bolted together very well, with the exception of one small very irritating issue that I’ll cover in more detail later.
Firstly, let’s talk about the positives of the Shark 6 following our last trip:
In late August my wife and I set off on our third lap of Australia. Our previous trips had been completed in pure electric (2019) and full internal combustion engine (in 1992 with a carburettor, remember those?).
All 3 trips had a similar pattern, depart Perth in very late winter, drive north and continue clockwise. This third trip had one main difference, instead of sticking to sealed roads our plan was to head east from Daly Waters to the Heartbreak Hotel, north to Borroloola and drive the 316 km unsealed and corrugated road to Hells Gate Roadhouse.
Conditions on the Borroloola to Hells Gate road vary significantly throughout the year, even at a time when the road is better than normal, it’s still a slow drive requiring patience and concentration.
There are far worse unsealed roads in Australia, but this one is a good test for the suspension and build quality of a recently designed vehicle. The Shark held together really well, the aftermarket roller cover on the rear tub not so well, and only gaffer tape would stop the lock bouncing loose.
Over the 18,000km journey in 44 days the Shark 6 did everything as expected: comfortable, quiet and pleasant to drive on long stretches of highway. When BYD bring out a Shark pure EV with 400kms genuine range we’ll do the trip again, there’s no reason it can’t be done.
The irritating issue and BYD’s customer service:
On the way through Western Australia we noticed a few missing items on the central touchscreen, and it appeared connectivity had been lost. On arrival in Darwin on September 2 the BYD service centre looked over the car for a short time, made a call to BYD’s main service centre in the eastern states and confirmed the T-Box had failed.
Although disappointing, it wasn’t surprising as the original factory fitted T-Box was becoming a common failure on a large number of Sharks across Australia. Judging by the comments and polls on BYD Shark forums it’s possibly as high as half of all Sharks have already had the T-Box failure.
As it’s a warranty repair most owners should have little concern. Unfortunately, a lot of owners are left frustrated by the apparent lack of urgency and care shown by BYD. Without a working T-Box the Shark has no navigation, no over the air software updates, no phone app, and 2 separate and very visible clocks that are 20-30 minutes incorrect and can’t be adjusted.
As BYD Darwin was only recently opened and had no replacement T-Boxes we continued our trip with the confidence that BYD Australia had record of the failure and by the time we got home to WA plenty of stock would be available.
Unfortunately, BYD service appear to operate with near zero communication and flexibility, the closest service centre to home has no record of our Shark having a failed T-Box and require an inspection of the vehicle to confirm it themselves before they can order a replacement part.
That method of service requires me to make a 130km round trip for an inspection then another 130km round trip for fitment, possibly 6-8 weeks later.
This is not the fault of the local BYD service centre, it’s a set of inflexible rules put in place by BYD Australia. I’ve spoken to 3 different BYD staff members in different parts of Australia, they all agree it’s not acceptable, but all have noted “they don’t make the rules”. Well, who does make the rules? And why does he/she still have a job?
For many people reading, the T-Box problem appears to be a minor issue. However, what if these vehicles start having issues with items such as onboard chargers, drive units or safety systems. Will BYD be able to cope?
BYD Australia’s marketing department appear to be well staffed with no shortage of budget. I just don’t think BYD understands how much money and effort is being wasted marketing a product when the real sales of any vehicle brand that’s new to Australia is driven by the thousands of early adopters.
There are a lot of Australians interested in BYD vehicles, for a lot of them the only real feedback they want is by asking current owners.
Without doubt, when asked, the most common reply from a Shark owner is “Great vehicle, fun to drive, good value, well built… but the BYD customer service is terrible. Spend your money on a company that values its customers.” That company is currently not BYD.
BYD Australia can make all the excuses they want, unfortunately the potential customers and the competition don’t care, if BYD want to survive and flourish in Australia they need to improve their customer service rapidly.