BYD is growing rapidly in Australia, and now it’s preparing to join one of the most hotly contended vehicle segments.
UPDATE, 15/10/2024 1800 AEDT – BYD has clarified pricing for the Shark 6 will be under $60,000. Exact pricing will be confirmed on October 29 when orders open.
The Shark 6 dual-cab ute is one of the biggest local launches for the brand to date – in fact it’s one of the biggest new model launches for the entire Australian market this year.
When it’s released around the end of this year, this electrified ute will bring the fight to segment stalwarts like the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux. In fact, the BYD Shark 6 will arrive before the Ranger PHEV and GWM Cannon Alpha Hi4-T PHEV both arrive next year.
This dual-cab ute is the Chinese brand’s second plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model to arrive in Australia, following the strong-selling Sealion 6.
WATCH: Jack’s walkaround video of the BYD Shark 6
At launch it’s set to be offered in a single range-topping Premium trim level with a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol, dual-motor all-wheel drive powertrain.
Orders for the BYD Shark 6 are set to open on October 29, when pricing will also be announced.
Ahead of first customer deliveries, which are expected in December/January, we had the opportunity to sample a pre-production prototype Shark 6 off-road in country Victoria.
How much does the BYD Shark 6 cost?
Although BYD hasn’t detailed exact local pricing for its forthcoming Shark 6 just yet, the company has confirmed it will priced below $60,000.
At this asking price it sees it undercut the likes of the Ford Ranger XLT Bi-Turbo dual-cab ($63,640 before on-roads), and Toyota HiLux SR5 with V-Active Technology ($63,260 before on-roads).
To see how the BYD Shark 6 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool.
What is the BYD Shark 6 like on the inside?
Put bluntly, very plush and almost un-ute-like.
The BYD Shark 6 has a blocky and bluff design that signifies its perceived toughness. This extends to when you hop inside, as there are large plastic side steps and chunky grab handles to make ingress easier.
Inside, there will only be one interior colour option from launch – black with orange highlights and accents. It’s a good colour choice given the workhorse nature of a ute.
I appreciate how the exterior and interior designs aren’t too outside the box, like some other BYD models. This allows the plug-in hybrid powertrain to shine as the most out-there part of the car, especially given it’s a ute.
The driver’s seat is very comfortable, offering oodles of support for longer drives. Although I didn’t get to spend too much time behind the wheel, it’s up there with the Ranger for comfort.
It’s finished in a faux leather, which mightn’t be to everyone’s tastes – especially people that use their utes as work vehicles. Even compared to a Ranger Platinum, it’s rather plush and soft.
The driver’s seat offers eight ways of electric adjustment, including thigh support adjustment that is fantastic for taller people like myself. The front passenger seat also offers four-way of electric adjustment.
Both front seats come with both heating and ventilation, which is operated through the touchscreen infotainment system. The latter is fantastic on warmer Australian days when faux leather gets hot.
Ahead of the driver is a chunky steering wheel that feels large in your hands like a ute’s steering wheel should. It’s wrapped in genuine leather and also feels super premium.
All the buttons on the steering wheel are thankfully physical push buttons that are logically placed and have a tactile click action. The two scroll knobs at the bottom of the screen are also fantastically placed so you don’t need to take your eyes off the road for too long.
Behind the steering wheel, the 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster looks like it’s tacked onto the dash like an iPad Mini. It’s modern looking with clean, minimalist graphics.
A potential catch, however, is there’s no binnacle above the digital instrument cluster, which may cause glares and reflections if the light hits the screen at a certain angle. My time behind the wheel was too short to be able to accurately judge this.
On the dashboard there’s a head-up display that’s also minimalist and shows the critical information you would want to see while moving. I like how it doesn’t have flashy graphics as they can be distracting.
Moving across to the left, there’s a gigantic 15.6-inch touchscreen infotainment system that’s the centrepiece of the cabin. As in other BYD vehicles, it rotates 90 degrees, though for the most time you’d like use it in landscape mode.
The touchscreen itself looks large, with loud graphics that pack a punch. As standard, you can either have a wallpaper or the satellite navigation on the home screen. I personally like how the latter looks.
The screen is easy to interact with, like a large iPad, and is very responsive to touch inputs. There appears to be plenty of processing power, which means when you flick and swipe between submenus they open snappily.
An annoyance is that the climate controls are embedded in the touchscreen. Thankfully, they’re always present at the bottom of the screen, and you can use swiping gestures to change the temperature and fan speed. Another alternative is using the ‘Hey BYD’ voice assistant.
I didn’t get to spend a whole heap of time diving into the nitty-gritty parts of the touchscreen, unfortunately. One of the elements I wasn’t able to try was how smartphone mirroring works. According to BYD, wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto will be offered at launch.
Looking around the cabin, there are so many premium, soft touches. This Shark 6 is definitely one the plushest utes I’ve been in to date. It also arguably looks more luxurious than a lot of similarly sized SUVs currently on the market.
Beyond the touchscreen I appreciate how many physical buttons, knobs and controls there are. BYD claims to have designed the Shark 6’s interior to look like a spaceship.
Like any modern vehicle, there are plenty of places to charge up your devices up front. These include a 50W wireless charger that has a vent to keep your phone cool, as well as numerous USB-C and USB-A ports.
First-row storage is fine for the segment, including an adequate centre armrest cubby, glove box, cupholders, and bottle holders in the door.
I’m also a huge fan of the 12-speaker Dynaudio sound system. Charli xcx’s brat remix album had just came out when I drove the Shark, so I had the music absolutely thumping and it sounded great.
Moving to the second row you have to remind yourself this is a ute because the space back there is incredibly premium. It’s a far cry from the likes of the HiLux’s utilitarian second row.
Unlike other utes, the Shark 6’s second-row backrest is reclined backwards further, allowing you to kick back and relax. The bench seat is also just as squishy and supple as the front seats, so apprentices will be riding in comfort.
At a leggy 182cm, I had pretty good leg, head, shoulder and toe room for dual-cab ute standards behind my own driving position.
Something to note is that the middle position is a little raised compared to outboard occupants, though the floor is flat as there’s no driveshaft running to the rear wheels.
In terms of second-row amenities, there are centre console-mounted air vents and both USB-C and USB-A ports, as well as a 10A household socket.
Around the back, the Shark 6 has an assisted tailgate drop function. It uses a damper to do this, which in turn makes manually closing the tailgate easier.
The tub space on offer is decent for the segment, but not class leading. BYD claims it measures in at 1520mm long, 1500mm wide, and 517mm deep, with a total capacity of 1200L. For context, this is around the same as what’s on offer in the Ford Ranger Wildtrak.
Compared to other combustion-powered dual-cab utes which have payload figures of around 1000kg, the Shark 6’s 800kg of payload is down due to the added weight of the battery pack.
Braked towing capacity is also just 2500kg, which is 1000kg down on the 3500kg benchmark for the segment.
Tub-related amenities include a tub liner and lighting, as well as three 230V household outlets (total output of 6.6kW) that can be used for vehicle-to-load (V2L).
The latter of these could revolutionise how we use utes in Australia as you can power electrical appliances using the ute’s battery pack.
The last thing I’ll mention here is that although the Shark 6 has a huge battery pack, it still retains a full-size spare wheel, which is incredibly rare for a PHEV, but critical for off-road-oriented vehicles and utes.
| Dimensions | BYD Shark 6 |
|---|---|
| Length | 5457mm |
| Width | 1971mm |
| Height | 1925mm |
| Wheelbase | 3260mm |
| Cargo capacity | 1200L |
To see how the BYD Shark 6 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool.
What’s under the bonnet?
Powering the Shark 6 is a version of the Sealion 6 Premium AWD’s 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine that’s longitudinally mounted instead of transversally mounted, plus two electric motors (one on each axle), and a 29.58kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack.
| Specifications | BYD Shark 6 |
|---|---|
| Engine | 1.5L 4cyl turbo petrol |
| Engine outputs | 135kW / 260Nm |
| Electric motor outputs | 170kW / 310Nm front 150kW / 340Nm rear |
| System outputs | 321kW 650Nm |
| Battery | 29.58kWh LFP |
| Transmission | Single speed, reduction gear |
| Driven wheels | e-AWD |
| Weight | 2710kg (kerb) |
| Fuel economy (claimed) | 2L/100km (SoC 25-100 per cent) 7.9L/100km (SoC <25 per cent) |
| Fuel economy (as tested) | 12L/100km |
| Electric driving range (PHEV) | 100km (NEDC) |
| Max AC charge rate | 7kW |
| Max DC charge rate | 55kW |
| Fuel tank capacity | 60L |
| Fuel requirement | TBD |
| CO2 emissions | 46g/km |
| Emissions standard | TBD |
| Braked towing capacity | 2500kg |
It’s worth noting basically all my driving of the pre-production Shark 6 was off-road sampling the different off-road modes. This means the petrol engine was on for a major portion of the drive, hence the higher fuel economy figure.
To see how the BYD Shark 6 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool.
How does the BYD Shark 6 drive?
Something I want to flag straight away is the Shark 6 examples we drove were pre-production prototypes, so they’re not fully indicative of what customers will receive.
The vehicles had also yet to receive ADR approval, so they couldn’t be driven on public roads. Instead, we had an hour-long experience taking the Shark 6 lightly off-road on certain tracks, and a singular jaunt going from 0-100km/h.
With this in mind, we’ll have to reserve full judgement on this plug-in hybrid ute until we can drive it for longer, at higher speeds, and on more familiar sealed roads.
Switching on the BYD Shark 6, I was waiting to feel a trembling startup and hear a chugging idle like a diesel-powered ute. Instead, I got a chime and silence to let me know the car is ready to drive.
BYD claims this ute is electric-first, and in practice it’s surprising how much driving can be done on electric power alone. It’ll happily cruise around on EV power with no fuss whatsoever and, depending on battery charge, is capable of travelling silently at highway speeds.
The two electric motors are rather powerful and as with many EVs they provide instantaneous progress. This is fantastic when travelling at low speeds off-road because the full amount of torque is available. It’s also easy to modulate throttle inputs.
Like virtually all PHEVs, the Shark 6 offers an EV mode that allows you to utilise the battery pack charge for driving. It switches off when the battery charge reaches 25 per cent, however.
According to NEDC testing, the ute is capable of achieving up to 100km of range on electric power alone and, although I didn’t explore the upper limits of this figure, that seems to be a tad unrealistic. I wouldn’t be surprised if the real-world figure is around 80km, which in all fairness if similar to what the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV offers.
Your use case may vary but hybrid (HEV) mode seems to be the best way to experience and drive the Shark 6. The powertrain management is smart, and opting for driving this way allows for the battery charge to remain higher for longer.
It does this by switching on the petrol engine to keep the battery pack topped up every now and then. When this happened the first time I didn’t even realise the engine had started. It’s almost imperceptible.
Speaking of the petrol engine, the 1.5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder never directly powers the wheels under 70km/h. Instead, it’s like a Nissan e-Power hybrid system and employs the petrol engine as a generator.
The petrol engine typically idles away to top up the battery, but if you’re travelling a little faster or up a steep incline the engine will rev a little harder. There’s no rpm gauge though, so you never know exactly how high or low the engine is revving.
It’s surprising how quickly the petrol engine can top up the battery charge. There’s also a hold/charge mode that allows you to keep a certain amount of charge in the battery for use later.
Above 70km/h the petrol engine does help progression, but only on the front axle. There’s no physical linkage between the front and rear axles, with only an electric motor on the latter.
One benefit of this is there are fewer components under the vehicle to impact ground clearance.
All together the BYD Shark 6 is very powerful – some may argue it has a little too much mumbo for a dual-cab ute. With 321kW of power and 650Nm of torque at your disposal, this 2.7-tonne beast gets up and moving quickly, especially in Sport mode.
BYD claims the Shark 6 can do the 0-100km/h sprint in 5.7 seconds, making it quicker than a Ranger Raptor. In practice with four people in the car and on a hill, this figure felt pretty accurate.
The first part of the acceleration is on EV power alone, and then once you reach around 50-70km/h the petrol engine fires up and revs loudly. It’s funny having the delayed engine startup because I’m so used to having engine noise from a standstill, especially when flooring it.
I was expecting that towards higher speeds the Shark 6 would feel out of puff, but even uphill at 80km/h it felt like there was still plenty left in the tank. I’d be interested to see if that’s still the case with a trailer hooked up and a low battery state of charge.
There are two different regenerative braking modes that both feel natural for anyone hopping out of combustion-powered vehicles. As with all BYDs, there’s no proper one-pedal driving mode.
But there are two brake pedal modes in addition to the regenerative braking modes that change how the pedal feels and reacts. I unfortunately didn’t spend enough time behind the wheel to notice any tangible difference between them.
As standard, the BYD Shark 6 offers the typical Normal, Eco and Sport drive modes, but there are also Mud, Sand, Gravel, and Snow terrain driving settings.
The latter modes not only change the calibration of the throttle and powertrain setup, but also turn off certain functions like traction control, autonomous emergency braking, and the parking sensors to minimise their intrusion off-road.
Something to note is the terrain modes require wheel slip before braking spinning wheels and sending torque to the wheels with most traction. This would be fixed with a locking front and rear differential, but you’d have to be doing some pretty hardcore stuff before requiring this.
The ute also only comes with Continental road tyres as standard, though you can likely swap these out for some meatier highway terrain or all-terrain tyres pretty easily.
Rounding out the off-road-oriented features, there’s hill descent control that unlike other systems doesn’t send ABS noises reverberating into the cabin. Instead it works away quietly and effectively.
In practice, it does a pretty good job of keeping the car around 8km/h, though at some points, especially when first tipping over the edge of a decline, the speed would rise up a bit too high. It would be nice if you could control the set speed.
I drove two pre-production examples of the Shark 6; the first was an earlier build and it had funny steering feel that felt lumpy. During certain parts of turning the wheel it felt light and then at others it firmed up.
This wasn’t the case with the other, newer example I drove. Its steering was linear, fluid, and easy to judge. There are also two modes – Normal and Sport – that allow you to change how firm the feedback is.
As I mentioned above, pretty much all our driving was done off-road and despite this I was surprised how well sorted the ride is. This likely comes down to the Shark 6 getting coil-sprung rear suspension instead of leaf springs at the back, as per most utes.
If you didn’t tell me the Shark 6 was a ute, I likely wouldn’t have known from behind the wheel. It’s very SUV-like with its ride comfort, allowing you to tackle harder bumps without unsettling your passengers. How it handles on twisty bitumen remains to be seen.
What surprised me beyond the virtually silent powertrain is that the cabin is also really quiet. There were no rattles or creaks, even though this is a pre-production prototype that has been thrashed and tested by many people.
Instead, it was so quiet in the cabin that the rustling of our shirts and jackets were making the most noises, allowing occupants to easily have a conversation.
In terms of manoeuvrability, I wasn’t able to get the full picture during this low-speed off-road drive, though the 13.5-metre turning circle is on par with its rivals. The ute’s surround-view camera system also has immaculate quality.
Given we were driving off-road for the most part, I also didn’t get a chance to try out all the safety systems. One that did cause a minor annoyance, however, was the driver attention monitoring.
It only went off a few times, but it was enough to make me want to turn it off. You need to do this by venturing deeply into the touchscreen infotainment system’s menus. And it also needs to be turned off every time you drive it because it defaults to on.
Lastly, the Shark 6 is one of the few PHEVs on the market to offer DC fast-charging. BYD claims that a 30-80 per cent charge at the ute’s maximum 55kW DC fast-charging rate takes around 25 minutes.
| Off-road dimensions | BYD Shark 6 |
|---|---|
| Track front and rear | 1660mm |
| Ground clearance | 200mm (unladen) |
| Approach angle | 31 degrees |
| Departure angle | 19.3 degrees |
| Ramp breakover angle | 17 degrees |
To see how the BYD Shark 6 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool.
What do you get?
At launch the BYD Shark 6 will only be offered in one range-topping trim.
BYD Shark 6 Premium highlights:
Exterior
- 18-inch alloy wheels
- Full-size spare wheel
- Fixed side steps
- Aluminium roof rack
- Shark fin antenna
- Spray-on tub liner
- Automatic LED headlights
- Automatic high-beam
- LED tail lights
- Front and rear fog lights
- Rain-sensing wipers
- Heated, folding side mirrors
- Puddle lights
- Sound-proof front glass
- Rear privacy glass
- Keyless entry
- NFC card
Interior
- 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster
- 15.6-inch touchscreen infotainment system
- Head-up display
- Voice assistant
- FM and DAB+ radio
- Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
- Satellite navigation
- Music streaming
- 12-speaker Dynaudio sound system
- Dual-zone climate control
- 2x USB-C ports
- 2x USB-A ports
- 50W wireless charger
- 12V socket
- 10A household socket
- Push-button start
- Auto-dimming rear-view mirror
- Leather-wrapped steering wheel
- Heated and ventilated front seats
- Black faux leather upholstery with orange accent stitching
- 8-way power adjustable driver’s seat with 4-way lumbar
- 4-way power adjust front passenger seat
BYD will offer the Shark 6 in four different exterior colours – Atlantis Grey, Arctic White, Cosmos Black and Outback Orange. The latter will only be available for examples arriving next year.
Is the BYD Shark 6 safe?
The BYD Shark 6 hasn’t been tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP just yet.
Standard safety equipment includes:
- Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)
- Rear collision warning
- Blind-spot monitoring
- Front and rear cross-traffic alert
- Lane departure warning
- Lane keep assist
- Adaptive cruise control
- Intelligent Cruise Control
- Driver fatigue monitoring
- Child presence detection
- Surround-view camera
- Front and rear parking sensors
How much does the BYD Shark 6 cost to run?
The BYD Shark 6 will likely be covered by the same six-year, 150,000km vehicle warranty and eight-year, 160,000km battery warranty as the rest of the carmaker’s lineup.
BYD hasn’t confirmed logbook servicing intervals and pricing yet.
To see how the BYD Shark 6 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool.
CarExpert’s Take on the BYD Shark 6
Although my initial drive was brief, the impression the BYD Shark 6 has left on me is profound. I’ve never experienced a ute quite like this.
The cabin presentation and technology is a cut above anything its current rivals offer. Even in pre-production prototype guise, the ute feels solid and well screwed together.
There’s an overarching premium feel to the interior that mightn’t be to every prospective ute owner’s tastes, but if high-end Ranger 4×4 sales are anything to go by, that’s what the market demands.
The premium feel is felt particularly in the second row, where the backrest is tilted back at a more comfortable angle, and the seat itself is plush. I’m hard-pressed to think of a mid-size ute with a comfier rear bench.
This is all before getting to how the Shark 6 drives. It’s super quiet and SUV-like, even off-road. There’s also so much power on tap that it may almost be too much for the everyday person.
Another important consideration beyond the fuel-saving benefits of EV driving is that the Shark 6 offers plenty of V2L charging capability. This means you can power a wide range of household or camping appliances and even trade tools anywhere you want, battery charge permitting.
All this makes the Shark 6 an offering that could revolutionise the ute segment and how people use this type of vehicle.
Of course, there’s the major caveat that we’re yet to drive the ute on public roads or at higher speeds. We also still don’t know how much it’ll cost.
Until then, I have to say I’m very impressed.
Interested in buying a BYD Shark 6? Get in touch with one of CarExpert’s trusted dealers here
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