more news on BYD UTE, looks like might be the first PHEV to be exported to many markets.
New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) in China
- Thread starter supercat
- Start date
more news on BYD UTE, looks like might be the first PHEV to be exported to many markets.
tesla cutting prices again in China. now mostly on higher priced version of model y.
I actually promote the idea that China is incapable of innovation. Better to lull the Americans into a false sense of security. Better for China in long term for EV development if they underestimate China capacity for innovation.
While I agree with you that we shouldn't care about that other dude, but less informed people do get influenced by him. I've seen enough comments on local NZ forums citing videos of that dude as evidence of China's issue and reasons for not wanting or considering Chinese EVs. I'm sure those people are a small % of potential buyers of Chinese EVs, but it's still annoying and not helpful.
Now lower margins than BYD? I've seen the chart where just two years ago tesla had super high margins and after q1 it had lower than Toyota.
Lethe
Captain
This vehicle is so important for BYD in Australia, where Toyota Hilux and Ford Ranger are the two best-selling vehicles. Ford is #4 here by sales YTD and 85% of those sales are either Ranger or the Ranger-derived Everest. At the moment the local ute market is almost entirely devoid of electrification too. LDV offers an undercooked and overpriced electric version of the T60... and that's it. But timing is crucial. In the next 12-24 months there will be PHEV Ranger, mild-hybrid Hilux, hybrid Mitsubishi Triton, probably other developments also. No doubt BYD will deliver a solid vehicle, but if they can also beat local competitors to offering a (credible) electrified ute, that would be huge from a PR standpoint.
Shenshan phase 2 is now almost ready to start production. Probably the largest of BYD's plants when complete
Knowing the Australian ute market, they'll need to make this BYD ute so large as to be impractical for most other markets for it to be successful in Australia. The Australians have adopted the US's obsession with massive pickups rather than anything more modest and we can see that just from observing the most popular Ute models all being large utes.
Lethe
Captain
The overwhelming majority of utes sold in Australia are classified in the US as "mid-size pickup trucks", i.e. they are smaller than the "full-size" Ford F-150, RAM 1500, Toyota Tundra, etc. that dominate the American market. That said, the Ranger, Hilux, D-Max etc. are still certainly larger than I would prefer and I don't know how they compare internationally. Prior to the collapse of Holden and the end of Ford manufacturing in Australia, both Ford and Holden offered popular sedan-based utes that were several hundred kilos lighter than the ladder-frame vehicles that now populate the roads, while still perfectly adequate and in some cases even preferable for the light tradesperson roles they were typically purchased for. If it were the case that BYD's ute is marginally smaller than its competitors, I'm not even sure that would be a problem.
Hopefully it can tow 3.5 tons. The best selling utes can tow that much, and the crappy LDV ev can only tow 1 ton, not great! The V2L will be very useful for tradies, they can have a power source for their tools.