Un prototype du pick-up BYD
No segment will escape BYD’s expansion. The Chinese manufacturer will thus offer an electric pick-up before the end of the year. But Europe is not his priority.
The electric pickup is a hot topic, especially outside of North America. Because if the big American pick-ups have all approached their mutation, let’s not forget that many other countries in the world are big fans of these vehicles capable of carrying passengers and equipment. But with less bulky models. Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi Triton or Isuzu D-Max achieve significant scores and sometimes appear at the top of the sales rankings. But none of these models in the “1 ton” category has yet passed the milestone of switching to electric.
The only offer in this segment comes from China. For the moment, the offer is mainly concentrated on rather rustic and adapted models of thermal vehicles. But the second stage is already here, driven by the growth of the leisure market in China. We discovered Geely’s Radar RD6 a few months ago, and another heavyweight is about to hit the scene: BYD.
China, Australia…
The Chinese electric champion is putting the finishing touches to his first pick-up, electric of course. No characteristics have yet filtered, but it should be based on the separate chassis of its luxury 4×4 Yangwang U8, certainly in a mechanical configuration a little less muscular than the more than 1000 hp of the latter… Remember that the offer from Geely with the Radar RD6 is a self-supporting box pick-up targeting the leisure world.
With the choice of a separate chassis, BYD most likely also intends to address professionals. This characteristic will be essential to tackle certain export markets. Like Australia. A large pickup market (4 models in the Top 10 sales including Hilux and Ranger in the first two places) where electric sales remain weak, but are taking off quickly (3.1% of the market in 2022).
Europe is not known to be a big pick-up market, with “only” 100,000 vehicles per year. This will therefore not be BYD’s priority. But the manufacturer could also have an advantage by being one of the first in the field with a modern offer…
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