{"id":331961,"date":"2026-03-16T07:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T07:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/331961\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T07:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T07:48:10","slug":"byd-nz-sells-80-plug-in-cars-in-a-day-high-fuel-prices-pushing-people-towards-evs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/331961\/","title":{"rendered":"BYD NZ sells 80 plug-in cars in a day: high fuel prices ‘pushing people’ towards EVs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Customer rush for BYD plug-ins, 6 times average sales rate.
\nFuel prices making buyers ‘reconsider the cost of driving’, says the company.
\nThree more new BYD models on the way later this year.<\/p>\n

BYD New Zealand says it sold 80 new vehicles on Saturday March 14. That’s equivalent to 10% of its total sales year-to-date (based on Jan-Feb published Motor Industry Association figures) or around 6 times its average rate.<\/p>\n

\"BYD
\nAtto 2 was launched late last year: BEV, with a PHEV on the way.<\/p>\n

BYD NZ general manager Warren Willmot attributes the surge to two things: the brand’s expanded model lineup (well, he would say that) and\u00a0rapidly rising fuel prices, influenced by geopolitical conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

All of BYD’s new vehicles are either pure-electric or plug-in hybrid\/super hybrid.<\/p>\n


\n
\n Advertisement <\/p>\n


\n Advertise with NZME.<\/a> \n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n Read More
\n <\/p>\n

\u201cKiwis are clearly voting with their wallets,\u201d says Willmot. \u201cHigher petrol prices are pushing people to reconsider the cost of driving, and BYD\u2019s five new models \u2014 Atto 1<\/a>, Atto 2<\/a>, Sealion 5<\/a>, Sealion 8<\/a> and the Cab Chassis Shark are giving customers more choice, more value, and more reasons to go electric.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BYD.\"
\n‘More reasons to go electric’ says BYD NZ management: Sealion 8 and (hiding far left) Sealion 5.<\/p>\n

The company says says it has already increased numbers for its next shipment, due in June. Not that it’s trying to pressure you or anything, but it also says that while vehicles are still available for immediate delivery, some colours and specifications are now sold out for the next 1-2 months.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expected strong interest, but this level of demand has exceeded even our most optimistic forecasts,\u201d says Willmot.<\/p>\n

BYD has another wave of new models on the way later this year, including a Shark 6 ute with a larger 2.0-litre engine and 3.5-tonne towing capacity, the Seal 6 station wagon and a super hybrid version of the Atto 2 (currently only offered in pure-EV form).<\/p>\n

BYD has also had another consumer thumbs-up by claiming the 2026 Consumber NZ People’s Choice Award for Car Ownership. The award is the result of research that’s conducted every two years, measuring satisfaction, trust, longevity and repair.<\/p>\n


\n
\n Advertisement <\/p>\n


\n Advertise with NZME.<\/a> \n <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Customer rush for BYD plug-ins, 6 times average sales rate. Fuel prices making buyers ‘reconsider the cost of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[178237,50400,50401,178238,6190,138,4165,18930,111,43,139,69,25367,50402,166198,108030],"class_list":["post-331961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-atto","tag-atto-1","tag-atto-2","tag-atto-3","tag-bev","tag-business","tag-byd","tag-ev","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-phev","tag-sealion-5","tag-sealion-6","tag-shark-6"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}