Top three or ‘disappointment’: BYD’s bold plan to knock Mazda, Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and GWM down a peg in Australia

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Chinese carmaker BYD is on a roll in Australia. The Shenzhen-based company has gone from strength to strength in this country off the back of its plug-in hybrid Shark 6 ute, electric Sealion 7 and Atto 3 SUVs plus Seal sedan, and the PHEV Sealion 6.

But it’s not stopping here, looking to double its range including the launch of premium brand Denza, on its way to third position in the 2026 sales race.

At an event Chasing Cars attended to sample six new models, BYD Australia and New Zealand chief operating officer Stephen Collins said “if we’re not top three [by 2026], we’d be disappointed.”

Collins predicts 55,000 sales this year, which will help it hold eighth position in the sales race. It’s a seriously impressive climb from 2024, when BYD sales totalled 20,458 for 16th place on the ladder. 

Holding eighth would put BYD in front of more established market players such as Isuzu and MG, though still behind Mazda, Kia, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and GWM. 

Later this year and early into 2026, BYD will launch a key product offensive sure to bump next year’s sales in the same direction. 

Led by the Atto 1 (a rebadged Dolphin Surf and expected to be Australia’s cheapest EV), also coming are the Atto 2 small electric SUV, Sealion 5 mid-size plug-in hybrid and three-row Sealion 8 PHEV. 

“We just want to keep the trajectory going, so we haven’t set a distinct number, but I think we’d be disappointed if we weren’t somewhere around the top 3. 

“Particularly with what we’re delivering in terms of new product, and more dealerships — we’re expanding our dealer footprint as we speak. 

“We just want to keep that trajectory, and I guess the number will be the number, but, yeah, I think if we’re not top three, we’d be disappointed,” Collins told Chasing Cars. 

Crunching the numbers, BYD will need to achieve in excess of 95,000 sales in 2025, representing a 72 percent increase on 2025’s predicted result. Shouldn’t be much of a drama — 2025’s year-to-date sales are up nearly 150 percent.

Talk to anyone at BYD and they’re serious about mounting a challenge against market leader Toyota. That means over 200,000 sales in a year: a tougher task, but the trajectory looks promising.

Denza coming in hot but separately

The other piece of the puzzle is Denza, BYD’s luxury arm (think Lexus to Toyota) that will launch with a Toyota Land Cruiser one-two punch. 

The first vehicles confirmed for November release are the B5 five-seat and B8 six- or seven-seat large SUVs. Both pack plug-in hybrid grunt similar to, but beefed up, compared to the Shark 6. 

These products will be counted separately in sales figures to BYD, so won’t add to the total. Demand is expected to be high, though. 

“We’re looking to come out of the gate pretty fast,” Denza CEO Mark Harland told Chasing Cars.  

In 2026, [Denza will] start delivering B5s later in January, February, and then probably [30–45] days later for the B8…and then we’ll be evaluating other vehicles in the second half of the year.

“I certainly plan to have a crack at some of the established premium brands from a volume point of view. Going after those kind of volumes is the target,” explained Harland. Mercedes-Benz and BMW volumes are probably a stretch for now. 

“Those would be probably the top end from a volume point of view…If I could knock them down, yeah, it’d be great, but there’s other brands: the Audis, the Lexuses, the Range Rovere, all those kinds of brands as well,” he explained. 

Some figures for context. In 2024 Audi sold 15,333 cars, Lexus managed 13,642 and Land Rover 7910. 

Toyota managed 15,257 Land Cruiser 300 Series sales alone in 2024 — the direct rival for the Denza B8 — while The Big T has already delivered 21,840 Prados this year. There’s plenty of potential for off-road wagon sales in Australia.

No branding backflips for BYD

Newcomer Chinese brands are notorious for fickle branding conventions that seem to flip on a dime. 

GWM, which started life as Great Wall Motors before separating briefly into Haval and Ora sub-brands, is a good example. 

As is Chery, which sold the Chery Omoda 5 at launch, though now Omoda is a separate entity tied up with new apparently-luxury adventure-focused Jaecoo in Omoda-Jaecoo dealers. Lepas and Jetour are two more separate sub-brands to flood in. 

BYD and Denza say they are “crystal clear” in their strategies. BYD takes BYD products, and any upmarket model from Chinese sub-brands like Yangwang and Fangchengbao will be streamlined into “premium” feeling Denza dealerships.