BYD bets on Brazil agribusiness to drive hybrid pickup sales

SAO PAULO: BYD Co. has launched its sixth model in Brazil this year, gambling that its hybrid pickup truck can take on the likes of Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. in the Chinese carmaker’s latest endeavor for world domination.

The company’s 436-horse power Shark hybrid pickup was made available for pre-order earlier this month at 379,800 reais ($66,700), entering Brazil’s highly competitive medium-sized pickup segment where customers have traditionally preferred trucks powered by diesel or gasoline.

The Shark’s launch event on Saturday in Goiania, the capital of Brazilian agribusiness, was BYD’s latest commercial offensive aimed at muscling its way to the top of the car-sales rankings in what is its biggest market outside of China.

With the automaker facing increasing barriers in the US and the European Union in the form of import tariffs, expanding in Brazil is a key part of BYD’s "chicken-rib” strategy of building dominant positions in emerging markets.

BYD is looking to companies such as meat producer JBS SA and mining giant Vale SA to back the use of the hybrid pickup in extreme conditions and thus get about 70% of Shark sales from agribusiness customers, the company’s commercial director in Brazil, Henrique Antunes, said.

"The potential market for pickup trucks in the agricultural sector is very large,” he said. "We conducted some studies that showed that even customers who are not in the agricultural sector often look to the agricultural sector to buy a pickup truck.”

Since pre-orders began on Oct. 3, customers have reserved around 1,000 of the 1,500 pickups available, according to Antunes, a sharp increase over the company’s previous launch, the electric sport utility vehicle Yuan Pro, which sold 600 units in pre-sales.

People who reserved a Shark also secured a solar-charging kit, a 3.5kWh portable charger and full insurance for one year for free.

Antunes expects the Shark’s annual sales will be between 10,000 and 15,000 units, which would put it among the top-five mid-size pickup trucks in Brazil.

The current sales leaders in the segment are the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger and Chevrolet S10, according to data from Brazil dealers association Fenabrave, with prices starting at around 220,000 reais.

BYD sold 51,203 vehicles in Brazil during the first nine months of 2024, an increase of over 700% compared to the same period last year.

The company hopes the Shark will help it to move up from its current 10th place in the overall sales rankings to be among the top five by 2027, said Antunes. "BYD didn’t arrive in Brazil to be a supporting actor.”

That ambition echoes the automaker’s global plans. BYD has gone from being a bit-part player in China’s crowded car market to cracking the top 10 automakers in the world, and briefly - in late 2023 - surpassing Tesla Inc. to become the biggest seller of pure electric vehicles globally.

Launching a hybrid pickup at a price premium to its rivals, and significantly more than the $53,400 the same vehicle costs in Mexico, represents something of a gamble.

Still, the opportunities outweigh the risks, according to Cassio Pagliarini, an automotive industry expert and partner at Bright Consulting.

He believes that some of the agricultural customers are early adopters, eager for new technologies and looking to take the first step, even in a market that typically prefers diesel engines.

"It’s a traditionalist customer, but it’s something new, it’s the first hybrid pickup, with phenomenal autonomy, and it has a sustainable footprint,” Pagliarini said. "Just like the premium vehicles from all these other brands, the word sustainability already wins people over.” Plus it still "has the ability to go through mud”.

BYD has gone all out to make an impression in Brazil in 2024, launching six new vehicles, including the Shark. The sales blitz has already shaken up the commercial strategies of its competitors and caused significant price reductions, both in purely electric and combustion models.

Brazil is also a key part of BYD’s ambitious plans to expand production globally, having recently opened or announcing plans for assembly plants outside China in 10 countries on three continents.

The company has unveiled plans to invest 5.5 billion reais ($1.1 billion) in Latin America’s largest economy to build a factory in Bahia, where a Ford plant once operated until 2021.

"We expect to start vehicle assembly in December 2024 and full production in the first half of 2025 - not semi knock-down or complete knock-down - full production, including stamping of parts,” Alexandre Baldy, the company’s senior vice president in Brazil, said in an interview Saturday.