When it comes to the electric pickup truck space, the industry is abuzz. The CyberTruck is a perennial favorite for journalists to cover, followed closely by the F-150 Lightning and the Rivian R1T.
The market is FAR LESS CONFIDENT in the inevitability of electric drivetrains for the pickup truck segment. For instance, the best seller of the bunch appears to be the CyberTruck, which as near as I can tell, was outsold by a truly awful gasoline pickup truck, the Hyundai Santa Cruz. That is to say nothing of the zany claims from Elon Musk that the CyberTruck would move more units than the Ford F-150 & F-250.
That’s part of why I am so interested in challengers in the electric pickup truck space. Clearly, consumers are not wowwed by their current options. Enter the Chinese-manufactured pickup truck, the BYD Shark.
BYD truck spotted in Scottsdale,AZ
byu/ObviousPerformance56 inelectricvehicles
BYD, if you don’t know, is a major Chinese auto manufacturer focused on EVs. The BYD Shark is a PHEV pickup truck with a gasoline generator integrated, similar to a Chevrolet Volt or the upcoming Scout Terra.
The BYD Shark is available in Australia, Mexico, and South America (among other locations), but interestingly not its native China or the United States.
The BYD Shark is Not Cheap (On Paper)
You might think that BYD intends to compete on price, following a similar break-into-the-market play as Japanese auto manufacturers started and Korean auto manufacturers followed in their footsteps.
Not so much, the BYD’s starting price is $53,400. Source is BYD’s Mexico order form.
For comparison, a 2024 Ford Maverick Hybrid starts at $25,670 and a 2024 Ford Ranger starts at $32,820 on the Ford order configurator. So, the Shark is not cheap where the pricetag is concerned!
Folks Who Have Sat It One Love the Finish
I’ve heard a number of first-drive experiences for the BYD Shark, and the key takeaways are:
- Folks are surprised and delighted by the interior build quality. It feels nice.
- Folks hate the software. There may be a cross-cultural learning curve to build user-interfaces.
- The only off-roading review I could find for the BYD Shark was second-hand, someone saw one at a meetup. It was not stuck and did not fall apart, which is honestly better than your average CyberTruck sighting!
That’s interesting, and I think it will speak to some segment of the pickup truck market in the USA – the vanity truck people, who choose a pickup truck when a wagon or SUV would have met their needs just fine, those buyers may jump ship for vehicles just like the BYD Shark because they like the aggressive styling.
One HUGE CAVEAT to these observations: the truck is brand new. Pickup truck reputations are build, first and foremost, on reliability. People STILL give Toyota s#~7 for their first gen Tacomas rusting out. So, time will tell an important piece of this puzzle.Folks Who Have Done “Truck Stuff” in One Think It Sucks
“I kind of feel like they botched it…” – The Aussies of CarExpert.Com.Au reviewing the BYD Shark.
Some of the best coverage for the BYD Shark comes from our friends down under. Give this interview a listen if you’re interested in how well a Chinese pickup truck does “truck stuff” in the hands of an expert driver:
Some of these concerns are relatively fixable, like the software sucking. Cruise control doesn’t work while in tow mode, for instance. That feels relatively patchable. The brand damage is done, but perhaps the engineers can salvage some of it.
Other problems with the BYD Shark seem to run deeper than that. These are described as teething issues, like difficulties in delivering the first slate of units. A bit more complicated to solve than simple software updates, this counts on BYD learning how to run a profitable and tolerable export outfit across a huge variety of markets. So, we will see!
In 2024, the top selling vehicles in Australia are the Ford Ranger, the Toyota Rav4, and the Toyota HiLux. So, there is a huge market for pickup trucks here. The competitors just outclass the newcomer.
And From Reddit… A Totally Real, Not at All Astro-Turfed Review of the BYD Shark
And, because this is FuelArc News and we cover some Chinese automotive news, here’s the weird part of today’s coverage.
There’s one SUPER VOCAL driver of a BYD Shark in the USA, and he claims to be down in Texas, splitting his time between the USA and Mexico where his Shark is legal to purchase.
He claims it’s awesome, it’s every bit as good as the Rivian he owns and the Tesla he also TOTALLY owns. It’s so great, it’s the only thing he every posts about. And there’s tons of photos of the BYD, and zero of his much more expensive vehicles, not even just incidentals where they are in the background.
Take that with an ENORMOUS grain of salt. Like many EV brands, it seems like BYD fans, investors, or staff are trying to build hype for their vehicles to help them get some much-needed market buy-in.
Will 2025 be the year of the electric pickup truck? I doubt it, but time will tell. One thing is for certain: Chinese manufacturers have spotted this lucrative market, and they’re shipping serious contenders for export market share.
