BYD Shark 6 off-road and towing upgrade coming, likely with Denza B5 locking differentials

---

BYD’s most senior executive in the Asia-Pacific region has told Chasing Cars that the brand will respond to customers seeking greater off-roading capability from the Shark 6 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) ute.

Speaking with this masthead at the launch of the Atto 2 small SUV, Liu Xueling, BYD Asia-Pacific automotive general manager, said the brand has planned improvements to the Shark 6 in the product pipeline.

“We know that customers have some complaints about the [Shark 6] product, but we will definitely keep on improving and [will respond] to the customers,” Liu said, via interpreter.

As a PHEV ute, the BYD Shark 6 relies on its dual electric motors for electrified all-wheel drive rather than traditional mechanical four-wheel drive. While electric AWD affords the Shark 6 technically precise motor control, the electronic architecture has received criticism.

Currently lacking locking front and rear differentials, the Shark 6 relies on traction control to brake spinning wheels under load, such as while climbing slippery trails. As is typical for electric AWD, there is no low range, either simulated or actual.

Concerns have been raised regarding limited articulation, as well as the Shark 6’s relatively limited 2500kg braked towing capacity.

BYD Australia has already acknowledged that it will update the Shark 6 with industry-standard 3500kg braked towing capability in the coming months.

However, Chasing Cars understands that superior off-roading technology developed for BYD’s luxury brand, Denza — and specifically for the Denza B5 4WD which shares a platform with the BYD Shark 6 — may soon trickle down to the ute.

The Denza B5, which comes to Australia next week, gains front and rear locking diffs, a simulated low-range gearbox for crawling, adjustable suspension for additional ground clearance, and even more power and torque (425kW/760Nm vs 321kW/650Nm) for more performance.

We asked BYD Asia-Pacific boss Liu Xueliang whether the Denza B5’s new off-road components would be transferred to the Shark 6 in 2026.

“It is true that we will be migrating all the successful technologies to each of our models,” Liu responded.

“With all the feedback [having been received], we are definitely confident [that we will] make our product better and better. You can say that the Shark 6 is not the end of our pick-up series — it is only the start,” he said.

BYD Australia chief product officer Sajid Hasan shed a little more light regarding future updates for Shark 6.

“We have an update to Shark 6 planned for 2026. We can’t say when yet that will be, but 3.5 tonne towing capacity is one of the updates. We have a few other things as well planned for that model,” he said.

The plug-in Shark has been the major success story of the ute segment in Australia in 2025 and a standout in a segment that has barely grown this year (up 3.5 percent).

BYD has delivered 15,181 examples of the Shark 6 so far in 2025, seizing a considerable 8.5 percent market share. In the same period, volume has fallen for both the Ford Ranger (down 10.4 percent) and Toyota HiLux (down 5.1 percent).

Meanwhile, Chinese brand GWM has delivered 2053 units of its own PHEV ute — the Cannon Alpha.