BYD Australia has been in a race to the underside with its rollout of impossibly low-cost pricing for its electrified models, but it surely insists that the pursuit of market-leading value is not coming at the fee of auto quality.
The Chinese brand now fields Australia’s most cost-effective plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV), with its recent Atto 2 DM-i small SUV priced from $24,990 before on-road costs – though it has now sweetened the deal even further by launching a $25,990 drive-away offer lower than two weeks after its launch, potentially saving buyers roughly $3000.
“There is no corners cut. We negotiate pretty hard with our headquarters, and it’s just the complete package,” BYD Australia chief operating officer Stephen Collins told CarExpert on the model’s local launch.
“We got strong cooperation from our headquarters, and we saw that as a primary position where we will really offer that attainability. We have been in a position to do this.”
BYD Australia chief product officer Sajid Hasan added that, despite the brand new price benchmark, the brand didn’t got down to launch the country’s most cost-effective PHEV SUV.
“It actually fell into our hands. We didn’t set out to realize that title. You never know who’s going to take the title,” he told CarExpert.
“It was about ensuring that the worth point was competitive and that we could have enough market accessibility throughout the small SUV segment. We knew for us to realize that reach we would have liked to be priced amongst the present competitors.”
When it comes to standard equipment, the bottom Atto 2 DM-i remains to be relatively well-equipped given its price. It has alloy wheels, LED exterior lighting, and a big infotainment touchscreen with wireless smartphone mirroring, though there’s a plastic steering wheel and cloth seat trim.
It also has a near-full suite of safety gear, including adaptive cruise control with lane-centring, blind-spot monitoring, a surround-view camera, and rear cross-traffic alert.
“The best way we have specified our Essential grade, I feel we will still get strong interest in it. It is not a really barebones spec… it’s got the 360-degree camera as standard, and could be used as a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid with decent EV range for every day commuting,” Mr Hasan said.
Notably, the bottom Atto 2 PHEV has a really short electric-only driving range. Its 7.85kWh lithium iron phosphate battery provides a claimed WLTP range of just 39km, supplemented by a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine.
That makes it the mainstream PHEV with the bottom EV range in Australia, though Ford’s Ranger Hybrid is close, given its circa-50km claim is derived from more lenient NEDC testing. Only high-end performance cars have shorter EV ranges.
For context, the top-spec Atto 2 DM-i Premium has a bigger battery and an electrical range claim of 90km.
“We’re just about now operating within the smallest [range] for a plug-in hybrid; it is not prone to get smaller than this,” Mr Hasan said in response.
“The number remains to be practical for every day commuting for most individuals living in cities and metropolitan areas. They simply must plug it in and charge it overnight, and so they can get very economical motoring.”
The Atto 2 DM-i joins the present lineup of pure-electric Atto 2 variants, that are still priced from $31,990 plus ORCs.
Mr Collins anticipates PHEV demand to be strong alongside the EV, and the Atto 2 is predicted to grow to be certainly one of the Chinese brand’s top sellers.
“The combo will likely be interesting between the PHEV and the EV. We predict it may be probably 60/40 [per cent]. But I assume the consumers will dictate that; we’ll see how that plays out,” he told CarExpert.
“We’re confident it may grow to be certainly one of our core volume models. Sealion 7’s our biggest-selling model by a good margin, followed by Shark, and we expect Atto 2 with the introduction of DM-i will likely be the third pillar, in case you like, for our core volume. It’s a crucial automotive for us.”
The introduction of the Atto 2 DM-i got here after BYD launched a drive-away deal for the Atto 1 electric hatch, a move that made it Australia’s most cost-effective recent automotive.
This Article First Appeared At www.carexpert.com.au
