BYD 2025: Seven-seat SUV a top priority for BYD as it prepares to expand its model range, and double its sales in Australia

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By the end of 2025, BYD hopes its standing in Australia will begin to reflect its volume and stature in its home market, with expectations of over 40,000 annual sales and a model range set to include the Atto 2 small electric SUV, a three-row seven-seat SUV and the premium U8 large SUV, branded as Denza (instead of ‘Yangwang’ like in China).

Chasing Cars spoke to David Smitherman, CEO of BYD’s Australian importer EV Direct, at the recent Sealion 7 launch and he said the number one priority for BYD in Australia is to introduce a seven-seat SUV. 

“Whatever is available in China we need to bring to Australia – we need to fill out [BYD’s] product portfolio because we don’t have enough product,” said Mr Smitherman. “We need to make sure we have a full product portfolio.

“The priority for me would be a three-row, seven-seat SUV – that kind of thing is what we’d love to get hold of. Nothing is clear at this point but that would be my next target, I would say. We know Australians love seven seaters [and] we don’t have a seven-seater, so we need to have that in the marketplace,” he said.

The seven-seat SUV Mr Smitherman is referring to is most likely the BYD Tang – a large plug-in hybrid and fully electric SUV that launched in 2018 in China but has been facelifted at least twice since then, the last time in 2024.

Styled under the direction of German designer Wolfgang Egger – former chief designer for Audi, Lamborghini and Alfa Romeo, and now design director for BYD – the handsome, well-proportioned Tang has defied its age well, with the electric version differentiated by a new grille-less front introduced last year.

In terms of sizing, the BYD Tang is slightly longer and around 50mm wider than a Kia Sorento or Hyundai Santa Fe, but rides on a near-identical wheelbase (2820mm). And its powertrains are up to date – the dual-motor EV featuring a 109kWh battery, all-wheel drive, 0-100km/h in a claimed 4.9sec and a WLTP range of 530km.  

Whether it retains its Tang nameplate for Australia is uncertain, though the vehicle is marketed as the Tan in Brazil, which may prove more appropriate.

The Atto 2 small electric SUV – just launched in the UK market – appears a certainty for BYD’s Australian line-up in 2025, wearing the same Atto 2 nameplate as it does in Europe rather than rumoured suggestions such as Atto 3 Up, Yuan Up or Yuan Pro.

The UK’s entry-level Atto 2 features a 45kWh lithium-ion phosphate battery, a 130kW/280Nm electric motor driving the front wheels, a 0-100km/h time of 7.9sec and a WLTP range claim of 312km, with an imminent long-range version extending that electric range to 420km.  

As for a proper 4WD, Mr Smitherman reiterated his desire for BYD to have a vehicle in every segment. “I need to make sure we’ve got the full product in marketplace, and that would mean we have to have some genuine 4x4s,” he said.

“Look at our competitors and if you see our competitor has that sort of product, BYD needs to have the same. And if we look at where we want to be, we’ve got to have large SUVs.”

Chief rival for BYD in this department is GWM (Great Wall Motors) with its Tank 300, Tank 500, Cannon and now the Cannon Alpha plug-in hybrid ute.

While BYD’s plug-in hybrid Shark 6 ute has already gone on sale here, there’s a chance the closely related Fangchengbao Bao 5 (mid-size plug-in hybrid SUV) and Bao 8 (large plug-in hybrid SUV) could come to Australia to compete with GWM’s Tank models, among others.

Likely marketed as BYDs, but potentially wearing the more upmarket Denza brand (and sold as Denza B5 and B8), the Bao 5 and Bao 8 (‘Bao’ meaning Leopard in Chinese) share their body-on-frame underpinnings with the Shark 6 ute.

The more compact and arguably better-looking Bao 5 shares the Shark’s powertrain – a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine, a 32kWh battery and a pair of electric motors for combined outputs of 505kW/760Nm and a 0-100km/h time of 4.8sec. It features three diff locks and offers a flagship version with height-adjustable suspension.

The bigger Bao 8 is slightly wider and rides on a 120mm-longer wheelbase (2920mm) but is much longer overall – measuring 5195mm (a stretch of 305mm). It also weighs around 400kg more and gets a much higher specification, including height-adjustable air suspension, a ground clearance of up to 310mm, and three automatic diff locks.

Its 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine with dual electric motors and 37kWh battery produces a combined power output of 550kW, thrusting the beefy Bao 8 from 0-100km/h in the same 4.8sec as the Bao 5.

Confirmed for Australia is BYD’s upmarket YangWang U8 large SUV – to be branded in Australia as the Denza U8. Recently photographed testing in the Australian outback in right-hand-drive form, the U8 is a large and expensive SUV/4WD – intended to be China’s answer to the Land Rover Defender and Mercedes-Benz G-Class.

Its specification is breathtaking – an individual electric motor for each wheel, electronically controlled all-wheel drive, active suspension, a combined 60-inches of dashboard screens plus a 70-inch augmented reality head-up display, a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine acting as a range extender for the 49kWh battery, and combined outputs of 880kW/1280Nm.

BYD says the 5.3m-long U8 can hit 100km/h in just 3.6sec, despite having to shift almost 3500kg, and is capable of up to 124km of electric-only WLTP range.

As for what else is potentially coming for BYD, there’s also the Seal 06 GT (a smaller hatchback version of the Seal sedan), though Mr Smitherman wouldn’t elaborate on exactly what we’ll see in 2025, or beyond.

“The honest truth is I can’t tell you what’s coming, but there is a lot coming,” he said.

He was happy to discuss BYD’s sales ambitions for Australia, however.

“Last year we sold around 20,000 vehicles – we want to double that this year. So I think we’re in for a very strong year, and if I look at our current orders, we’re well-positioned for that number.

“I’m very confident we can do that,” he said – no doubt boosted by the just-launched Sealion 7 mid-size electric SUV, which BYD expects will become its best-selling vehicle in Australia.

Intriguingly, that 40,000 annual sales target doesn’t really include BYD’s impending onslaught of new models. So for any doubters of the ‘Build Your Dreams’ brand and its long-term viability in Australia, all we can say is ‘watch this space’. Because things are rapidly changing.