Chinese car maker BYD has announced it will bring an extra 30,000 new energy vehicles – both full battery electric and plug in hybrids – to Australia through May and June.
BYD, which has overtaken Tesla as the most popular electric brand in Australia and announced this week it had delivered its 100,000th NEV in Australia, says the new initiative will support essential workers who need cost-effective transport to get around.
These include doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, teachers, social workers, police, fire, ambulance and SES volunteers. It says the move is important given the soaring cost of petrol and diesel, and the uncertainty over long term supplies (particularly after the dramatic fire on one of Australia’s two refineries).
“Ultimately, we want to minimise wait times for all customers, because everyone is feeling the pinch. The 30,000 vehicles arriving by June will go a long way to helping,” BYD Australia COO Stephen Collins said in a statement.
“We will work closely with our national dealer network to provide priority access – not exclusivity – for those delivering critical services to the community, while maintaining availability for the broader public.”
To put those numbers into context, BYD has sold some 9,954 EVs in Australia so far this year (to the end of March), and more than 10,000 cars in total, including hybrids.
BYD, as a company, has also used its vertically integrated engineering and manufacturing operations to quickly pivot to other products, which saw a surge in demand in Australia during the Covid-19 pandemic.
That was specifically about the face masks needed during the pandemic, with healthcare professionals using them to protect themselves and the community.
Production of those masks saw BYD’s manufacturing plants increase output from 5 million masks per day to 50 million per day within a month. These were used by the company’s employees, hospital and frontline medical staff, and overseas distribution.
BYD’s sales have grown significantly in recent years, and of the 100,000 vehicles it has delivered, more than 64,000 have been BEVs.
In Australia, BYD has already made it into the top 10 best-selling car brands in 2025 and has become the first brand in recent Australian motoring history to reach the top 10 in under 4 years.
It secured the 8th spot for the year, but with these additional supply announcements, BYD might be positioned to enter the top three best-selling brands by the year’s close.
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.