BYD says its Australian retail network will expand into more rural and regional areas as the brand chases ambitious sales targets for 2025.
The company’s local distributor, EVDirect, intends to double its sales this year, fuelled (or is it charged?) by new products like the Shark 6 and Sealion 7 plus new entry-level Essential variants of existing models.
But to reach 45,000 sales this year, it also needs to expand its retail network.
The company intends to double this in size to more than 100 locations – many of which will be located in “rural and regional parts of Australia” according to EVDirect CEO David Smitherman.
“There’s no secret that as a brand we want to grow; we need to grow,” Mr Smitherman told CarExpert.
“We’re looking to double [our retail network] in the next six to 12 months, particularly in rural and regional parts of Australia. We’re really trying to fill out that network and it’s growing rapidly – [it’s a] big job, but it’s happening.”
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Mr Smitherman cites BYD’s Shark 6 ute – one of the brand’s newest models that only began deliveries at the start of this year – as a key reason for the focus on areas outside of Australia’s major cities.
“The Shark will be a vehicle that travels everywhere, so we need to make sure that in all country and regional towns you can service your car,” he said.
According to BYD’s location finder, the Chinese brand has 70 so-called ‘experience centres’ across Australia. These comprise:
- Australian Capital Territory: 3
- New South Wales: 20
- Northern Territory: 0
- Queensland: 20
- South Australia: 5
- Tasmania: 2
- Victoria: 14
- Western Australia: 6
The only BYD-associated facility in the Northern Territory is a mycar service centre in Darwin.
At least four of these experience centres are found in areas that could be considered regional, including one in Victoria (Bendigo), and three in Queensland (Cairns, Toowoomba, and Townsville).
While it isn’t clear where exactly BYD will be targeting for new retail and service locations, an expansion inland from Australia’s east coast seems likely at first.
It’s also possible BYD could be looking to gain a presence in areas like Broken Hill, where an event was held in the lead-up to the Shark 6’s launch late last year.
In any case, an expansion into regional areas would play a significant role in BYD’s Australian growth.
The brand recorded 12,438 sales in 2023, which increased to 20,458 in 2024. Though it was roughly a 60 per cent increase in yearly sales, Mr Smitherman maintained that BYD’s goal was always to “double the volume”.
“Our team is very focused on doubling sales this year, and I feel as though we are on track for that with the product we’ve got and what’s coming,” he said.
“Last year we didn’t have Shark, Sealion 7, or the Essential range, and we only had Sealion 6 for half a year.”
In 2024, it was nearly a three-way tie for BYD’s sales winner. In first was the Seal with 6393 sales, followed by the Sealion 6 on 6198 despite arriving halfway through the year, and the Atto 3 on 5751. The Dolphin hatch managed 2116 units.
BYD also introduced new stripped-back, more affordable Essential grades for some of its vehicles in January this year.
“We’ve now got a Sealion 6 at $42,990 [before on-roads], that’s our Essential which I think is a really competitive proposition, so we are pushing very hard for that product to grow in-depth,” Mr Smitherman said.
Indeed, in the first month of 2025 the Sealion 6 was far and away BYD’s sales leader. With 433 sales for the month it was well ahead of the Atto 3 on 105, while the Dolphin jumped to third with 85.
The Seal ranked fourth and last in BYD’s ranks with 52 sales for the month, while the Shark 6 and newly released Sealion 7 are yet to be represented on the Australian sales charts.
BYD has endured a slow start to 2025 though, citing a lack of supply due to port delays.
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