BYD hit by port delays, however expects gross sales to extend

BYD gross sales slumped in January, and the model has blamed an absence of provide for the drop.

In comparison with January 2024, BYD deliveries have been down by 48.5 per cent. The Dolphin hatch was down 66.8 per cent to 85 items, the Atto 3 down 77.4 per cent to 105 items, and the Seal fell by a whopping 91.2 per cent to only 52 items.

BYD additionally delivered 433 Sealion 6 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) SUVs.

With a complete of 675 deliveries total, it completed twenty second on the brand new automotive gross sales charts, simply behind Tesla which fell 33.2 per cent to 739 deliveries.

Not solely was this a major drop over January 2024, it was an enormous fall from December 2024 when BYD delivered 1993 autos.

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“Port delays affected all fashions in January, leading to restricted inventory for supply,” mentioned a spokesperson for the model.

“Moreover, January is historically a softer month as a result of vacation interval.”

Maritime Union of Australia staff went on strike throughout January at ports operated by Qube, together with Port Kembla, Fremantle, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne, although this was resolved inside days.

Whereas BYD says this impacted deliveries, it provides that its order financial institution is robust.

“Regardless of having no Shark 6s out there for check drives, our order write exceeded expectations, making it one in every of our strongest months ever – notably for Shark 6 and our EV fashions – pushed by the introduction of MY25 pricing and the Necessities vary,” mentioned the spokesperson.

The introduction of latest entry-level Important variations of its Dolphin and Atto 3 – bringing their base costs beneath $30,000 and $40,000 earlier than on-road prices, respectively – might juice gross sales for the electrical hatch and SUV in 2025.

The Sealion 6 has additionally obtained a less expensive Important variant, bringing the bottom worth of the mid-sized SUV to $42,990 earlier than on-road prices.

The BYD model’s tally might have been larger had Shark 6 deliveries been included, nevertheless, the PHEV ute was lacking from the VFACTS report.

“An administrative error meant we didn’t meet reporting necessities, however we’re happy to have 450 Shark 6s on the street, which will probably be counted in February,” mentioned a spokesperson.

Had the 450 Shark 6s been included in January’s outcomes, BYD’s tally would have been 1125, placing it in nineteenth place total.

This will likely simply be a blip for the BYD model, which has grown quickly for the reason that launch of the Atto 3 in 2022.

BYD gross sales grew by 488.6 per cent between 2022 and 2023, and by 64.5 per cent from 2023 to 2024.

This February, BYD will introduce a direct rival for Australia’s top-selling electrical mannequin – the Tesla Mannequin Y – in its new Sealion 7.

The model’s native distributor EVDirect has an bold goal to topple Toyota by 2027… or for BYD to a minimum of grow to be a prime three-brand in that 12 months.

The distributor is focusing on 45,000 BYD gross sales this 12 months, with its CEO David Smitherman telling CarExpert late final 12 months it deliberate to double its gross sales yearly.

“[In 2023] we bought 12,500 autos and I’m very comfortable to go on file that 12 months after 12 months we’re seeking to double these gross sales, as long as we are able to get the autos in market on the proper time,” mentioned Mr Smitherman.

BYD ended up delivering 20,458 autos in 2024, making it Australia’s seventeenth best-selling model.

However even when BYD does double its gross sales annually, it wouldn’t be capable to beat Toyota by 2027 at this fee except the Japanese big stumbled considerably.

Final 12 months, Toyota delivered 241,296 autos in Australia.

MORE: BYD plans to outsell Toyota in Australia inside three years