Date: 25/02/2021
Toby Hagon / news.com.au / Technology
This Chinese company might be the biggest car maker you’ve never heard of, and it has ambitious plans to build cars here.
Electric car maker BYD wants to build a ute in Australia.
Forget Holden and Ford utes: Australia could soon have a new homegrown pick-up – and it will be powered purely by electricity.
Little known Chinese car maker BYD is in the development phase of a top-secret electric ute that could one day be built in Australia.
Fresh from announcing it would begin selling cars in Australia from 2022, the managing director of BYD importer NEXPORT says an EV ute is in the works.
“We have a pick-up style vehicle in prototype stage,” confirmed NEXPORT chief Luke Todd, albeit cautioning it is still years away.
BYD is one of the world’s biggest electric car makers.
Between now and then BYD plans to launch a range of cars that include at least two SUVs, a small car and a sports sedan. The first – a mid-to-compact electric SUV – will be unveiled at the Shanghai motor show late in April with first deliveries planned for 2022.
BYD says all its electric cars will have a range of at least 500 kilometres and achieve “price parity” with existing petrol-powered vehicles, taking away the single biggest barrier to EV take up in Australia.