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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n The world\u2019s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, BYD, admitted it made a mistake when it sold vehicles to an estimated 1265 Australian customers as 2026 models when they had been made the year before.<\/p>\n The Chinese manufacturer, which is poised to become one of Australia\u2019s top car brands, agreed on Saturday to provide customers a full refund, or compensation of $1100.<\/p>\n Paul Ellis, the public relations director of BYD in Australia, told the ABC<\/a> that it was a mistake.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was an administrative error that occurred. There was no deceit,\u201d he said. Ellis said BYD had mistakenly used the dates the cars left the factory instead of the date they were manufactured.<\/p>\n Owners of BYD electric and hybrid cars said BYD\u2019s compensation offer was grossly inadequate.<\/p>\n On Saturday, BYD apologised to customers, and offered a full refund.<\/p>\n Ellis said, \u201cWe will offer customers a full refund. They will take that refund and if they wish to have a new transaction they can purchase another BYD from us.\u201d<\/p>\n He reassured customers that the cars were not materially different but acknowledged the build date was wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t affect the compliance of the car in terms of Australian design rules. It doesn\u2019t affect the vehicle\u2019s warranty or its performance. It is just a build date,\u201d Ellis told the ABC.<\/p>\n Related Article Car site Which Car said the mix-up related to the model year recorded in sales documentation rather than any mechanical or specification differences. Customers received 2025-built vehicles instead of those described as 2026 models, although the cars are otherwise believed to be identical.<\/p>\n BYD will call, email and text all affected customers to make the updated offer.<\/p>\n Customers can still obtain a $1100 repayment and Ellis said many were satisfied with this.<\/p>\n On social media, though, some owners of BYD vehicles were angry.<\/p>\n One said, \u201cI am seriously pissed off.\u201d Other users said the $1100 was insufficient.<\/p>\n Some customers worried that having an older vehicle would reduce their vehicle\u2019s resale value, or increase the cost of insurance.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery BYD owner must now be frantically checking their cars build date\/compliance plate,\u201d a Reddit commenter wrote.<\/p>\n BYD customer Zoheb Khan told the ABC\u2019s consumer reporter Michael Atkin that the compensation wasn\u2019t enough and said he had asked the manufacturer to replace his car with a 2026 model.<\/p>\n Roadside assistance group the RACV reported that BYD was set to become one of the top three car brands in Australia in 2026 and eventually plans to be market leader.<\/p>\n \u201cJust four years after arriving in Australia, BYD<\/a> has become one of the top-selling car brands<\/a> with its fast-expanding EV and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) model range \u2013 and it does not plan to slow down until it has toppled Toyota<\/a> for outright market leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about the issues, Assistant Minister for Competition Andrew Leigh told the ABC he wanted to strengthen the effectiveness of the consumer guarantee so that, if something went wrong, people got a fair go. That included proposing new penalties for suppliers and manufacturers who fail to comply with their obligations to offer consumers a repair, replacement or refund.<\/p>\n BYD has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Imported](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4b5c255254d6eced3e04c03b7cdce5f9a6c53859.jpeg\")
Imported BYD electric vehicles parked in a storage yard in Melbourne in 2025.Aaron Francis<\/p>\n![\"Chinese](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ccdb5a3dbd996dbfff6ac493eb976adc005ddda9.jpeg\")
Chinese car maker BYD\u2019s dealership in Berlin.Bloomberg<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780481657_434_c7ee08638adf14bb35687bf3ccbb8a00e2e270c5.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Julie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769811313_254_3e6556bed44e439995c9ceb08905ecc44cfc9bd4.png\")
Julie Power<\/a> is a senior reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793621,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":["post-793620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793620"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793620\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}