Bigger BYD Shark electrified ute could shake up market dominated by Ford, Chevrolet and Ram

October 6, 2024October 19, 2024 Toby Hagon 7644 Views BYD, electric ute, Shark, ute

Huge American pick-up trucks could soon bit hit by a supersized eco-focused surprise from China.

Hard charging BYD is set to make life tough for the behemoths of the road, with plans emerging for a large ute to compete with the likes of the Chevrolet Silverado, Ram 1500, Ford F-150 and upcoming Toyota Tundra.

BYD is currently developing a “full-size” pick-up truck to sit above the soon-to-arrive Shark 6 – and like that car it will be powered by electricity.

A BYD gave the first clue at the recent media drive of the Shark 6. The car was previously known simply as Shark but has now been branded Shark 6, leaving in room in the line-up for a broader family of BYD utes.

“We still have other product line-ups in the Shark series,” revealed Michael Su, BYD product training specialist.

“There’s maybe one (ute) for next year … full-size.”

The newcomer – which would logically be called Shark 7, Shark 8 or Shark 9 – will likely borrow design themes from the Shark 6, which officially goes on sale in Australia on October 29 before first deliveries in December.

Speaking at BYD’s headquarters in Shenzen, the brand’s general manager of Asia Pacific sales, Liu Xieliang, confirmed there were more utes on the way.

“For Shark 6 it will be the first ute we will launch in Australia but it’s never the last,” he said.

The make-up of the new large ute is unknown, but one thing is for sure: it’ll be powered mostly or wholly by electricity.

The brand providing the toughest competition globally to Tesla these days only builds plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs) and full battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

The Shark 6 is a PHEV but BYD has previously said it intends to do a BEV variant too.

But the biggest advantage the larger BYD Shark is likely to have is pricing.

BYD Shark 6 — *Formerly known as simply Shark, the BYD ute is now the Shark 6, leaving room for more in the family*

The most affordable of the big trio – Ford, Chevrolet and Ram – is the Ford F-150, which kicks off at $106,950 plus on-road costs.

The Ram 1500 starts at $119,950 and the Chevrolet Silverado at $130,500, each before on-road costs.

A large chunk of that – likely upwards of $20,000 – involves stripping the car back to metal and converting it from left- to right-hand drive.

The BYD Shark 7/8/9 would emerge from the factory with the steering wheel on the right – and the factory would likely be in China, further lowering the manufacturing costs.

Throw in a relatively affordable electrified drive system – BYD makes its own batteries, which are the most expensive component of an EV – and the large Chinese ute could be a game changer.

No surprises, then, that BYD Australia is keen to welcome it to Australian showrooms.

The CEO of BYD Australia importer EV Direct, David Smitherman, says he would “absolutely” take it.

“As a brand we’ve identified two segments we want to grow into and that’s SUVs and utes,” he said.

“We need to have a range of utes to compete in the marketplace.”