BYD's cheapest electric vehicles. Orders open Monday 13th January for March delivery, confirmed by most major car news websites. Competitive cars for the price.
Range for these models is the same as the current base models. 340km Dolphin and 345km Atto 3. Very competitive options for urban drivers.
How long will legacy car makers continue to rely on loyalty before having to put prices down instead of increasing prices every year?
Just biding my time until all the manufactures start lowering prices.
This isn't lowering prices. This is a new poverty pack model with out extras like sunroof, bigger screen, powered tailgate, wireless phone charging etc…
Still means more supply and used market, will still put downward pressure, if only we could figure this out for house market.
If we were better at both building and acceptance of prefabricated housing, we'd get closer. You only have to see how much rework is done on a simple build to know we waste tonnes of money on labour that we could easily automate
@PhilToinby: Land prices/ labour is the issues. Most existing dwellings aren't worth much compared to land.
@Creamsoda: Re labour, we also do have a population that is hellbent on getting kids educated to become desk jockeys, from a young age we are taught not to be dumb or else we become garbo's or firefighters or something 'dumb'…
Hence the small number of labourers are able to charge more.
Re land, everyone is a YIMBY till they become a home owner, then they become a NIMBY.
@tightm8: well ya. if you want to win elections you favour the majority. House owners are the majority. who cares if it's detrimental to our economy and produces nothing while curb stomping the poor? The avg joe is not going to care.
Victoria seems to have figured it out with their falling rents and house prices.
The price is definitely lower
Just imagine being so poverty-stricken.
It is lowering prices. The items it forgoes wouldn’t cost the same as the reduction.
Liberal simping lol
it's been sooooo easy under albanese ,
@Gdsamp: OK I’ll bite.
I can’t remember a time the liberals have made anything better for the average person.
Work choices. Fail.
NBN. Fail
Housing. Fail
Immigration - both libs and Labor. Fail
Please enlighten us on the relationship between imported car prices and the prevailing ruling party of our federal government (other than luxury car tax which has been around forever, and EV subsidies which are mostly the realm of state governments).
What are the specs of the Essential? What am I paying less for?
Scroll up
No cellular connectivity is a shame as it will mean no app functionality, which is one of the best features.
Welcome to the internet? How long have you been away? A few decades?
BYD Atto 3 have cellular function, I tested drive last month and the salesman said it comes with 1GB data per month
Yes the current BYD Atto 3 models for sale have cellular - I own one.
We are talking about the new 'Essential' trim which you have not test driven.
Atto 3 essential (same as china Yuan Up) also comes with 4g OTA update
https://db.carnewschina.com/byd/byd-yuan-up/2024/params?utm_…
@littlesoldier: https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/chinese-giant-bri…
"Compared to the standard version of these vehicles, the cheaper models come without a panoramic sunroof, heated seats, wireless phone charger or data plans. However, the Atto 3 and the Dolphin come with the same battery, with a listed driving range of around 350 kilometres."
Not sure why negged but your comment is true. It comes with a sim and 1gig a month, in China they have higher data plans you can pay for but that's not available in Aus.
Changing Sims won't let you use the data on the new sim, the system is locked down to the sim it comes with. You can hotspot from your phone since the unit just runs android
The discussion is about the new 'Essential' trim, which reportedly doesn't come with a SIM. Yes the current one does come with one, but that's not the topic of discussion.
Also means no data spying and tracking.
What makes you think the hardware is not installed as part of the computer, just disabled for customer connection but still sending data back to China? Similar to TVs that have the same processor, just some functions disabled.
How does it send data without a mobile data connection?
Everyone already has a phone and wifi at home. Have it connect through those.
That won’t allow app connectivity though which is the major plus of having cellular.
Also BYD doesn’t currently allow OTA updates via wifi - cellular only. Not sure how the updates will work on a vehicle without cellular, hopefully they allow it over wifi.
The atto 3 with cell only has 1gb of data every month. Can't be upgraded or topped up, can't swap sim either. It's useless really.
You can automate hotspot ting on your phone once it connects to car Bluetooth.
That doesn’t help with app connectivity. It’s nice to remotely turn on the AC or see your battery charge level etc. 1gb is plenty for that. I agree it’s pretty useless if you are actually inside the car though.
can it connect through your phone?
Comes with a home charger too, not bad!
EV have come a 'long way' in regards to affordability
I reckon China are going to dominate our market if they keep lowing price entry point for EVs
For sure. I'm keen to see what other retailers to do try and get some of that market back. I think there will be some decent deals to be had.
The great thing is; we, the consumer, are the ones benefiting from it!
Yeh, so the poor factory workers making the car are now working an extra 4-6 hours a day for the same wage so that we here can benefit from the lower prices.
@z28: I have read the article, multiple times. not necessarily a source to his comment which was obvious trolling/ half joking. just letting you know what he described was very likely true, if you've read that article too..
@firedolphin: I read the article: BYD contracted their work, the contractor is dodgey, BYD took action so what next ? BYD is bad ?
but,believe what you want to believe. that's all I want to say.
@firedolphin: Firstly my Chinese language extends to writing from 1 to 10 and recognising characters on an Chinese chess board, so no, I can't read Chinese.
Secondly not sure what you think I believe in, I haven't declared my belief in this matter.
Lastly, a statement was made, I asked for its source, someone else provided an article and asked me to read it. I did and summarised what I understand from that article and still no source.
@Ocker: The cost is probably spread across the whole chinese population, by way of manufacturer subsidies… sounds fine to me.
Healthy competition is good for consumers but not monopolies.
Last thing consumers need is Japan, S. Korea, Europe and US car industry to be eliminated and Chinese car industry to have a monopoly. Be careful what you wish for.
i wouldn't worry about chinese ev's they are largely rubbish
tesla model 3 is still the better value car at almost twice the price
China are planning to dominate all EV markets, full stop. USA not so keen though.
The guys at ReDriven recently gave the Atto 3 a solid review, which is pretty impressive considering they've been quite critical of many EVs in the past.
I've driven one as a hire car last year, drove surprisingly well - no worse than any other boring SUV I'd driven previously. If I was in that market I'd strongly consider one based on price & build quality. Interior is quirky which I quite liked too.
There are plenty of absolutely shite ICE rental cars out there. It's really not hard for EVs to be competitive
It has to be remembered that BYD has been producing cars for 20 years now, so its now a mature manufacturer.
I actually didn’t know this.
I'm waiting for the Toyota boiz to come here and defend the Yaris for 33K with hubcaps and 5-year warranty.
Even the Corolla base grade is in trouble vs the Dolphin Essential
reliability (tm)
The reliability argument really only works when comparing a Toyota ICE to a less reliable brands ICE car. When looking at EVs there are just so many less parts, which means less things that can go wrong. Obviously there will be some bugs to iron out with EVs, but a lot of the major stuff has been done already.
I am a mechanical engineer, so I do have some background on this topic. The best way to improve the reliability of anything complex, is simply to reduce its number of parts
@CrazyTachikoma: Did you read that in the Herald Sun or Sky News?
Have you seen the difference between servicing schedules/cost in any EV on the market? This is because they have less stuff to go wrong and maintain.
But sure, some people think this is a myth
Generally the news around EV recalls is all stuff that is fixed with software rather than unbolting and replacing mechanical parts…
@PhilToinby: gets confronted with actual data against your personal bias, from the prestigious US Consumer Reports
proceeds to attack the messenger and discredit the message
then pivots to another topic (maintenance)
what a terrible engineer you must be, likely a DEI hire
@CrazyTachikoma: CrazyTachikoma
Hey crazy (user name checks out)
A thinking person wouldn't criticise someone commenting about some facts you pull out of your jaxxy. It's a bit late to bang on about attacking the messenger when you don't put links to sources in either your first post, or your vitriolic post.
Dunno about how good that fella is as an engineer, but you fail terribly in communication 101.
No, we're waiting for CCP cheerleaders
The essential will fit a lot of drivers since it does away with some of the 'lux' features.
One maker I hope comes soon to Oz is Aion and their Aion UT model. That one competes with the Dolphin but they also make some higher end stuff like the Aion Hyper SSR. The parent is large (GAC) and has sold a not over 2 million vehicles in 2024.
Legacy auto has to respond soon to these as they're hemorrhaging cash and have lots of built of inventory. New-old stock in some cases (i.e. late 2023-early 2024 models).
and the Leapmotor B10
People are underestimating the level of competition and profits that will be arbitraged away.
Battery dropping up to 20% a year plus the manufacturers are working on rolling out semi solid state soon and solid state batteries later. In 2 or 3 years the batteries will be cheaper and longer range.
There is the fear factor you won't be able to get parts if things go wrong but don't forget there is probably the same car in China made in the hundreds of thousands if not millions.
The Dolphin Essential drops the following equipment found in the old Dynamic:
![[Pre Order] BYD Dolphin Essential $29,990, Atto 3 Essential $39,990 + On-Road Costs @ BYD](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/03/888203.jpg?h=2137d65a)
Power-folding exterior mirrors
Panoramic glass roof
Rain-sensing wipers
Wireless phone charger
Heated front seats
Rear privacy glass
BYD Digital Key
BYD Bluetooth Key
glass roof would be nice but otherwise I can't see me missing anything in that list, might need to take one for a test drive now!
You will miss the remote aircon in the summer when returning back to your car.
The rain sensing wipers is the only feature I'd miss, it's too hot for the roof
Perhaps zac is a fan of black cars and sunroofs in summer….. but I'm with you!
I'm actually not a fan of glass roofs.
Just gets too hot in Summer.
A glass roof also adds quite a bit of weight, so it doesn't make much sense in a budget EV
Yeah can't live without that feature now. Pre-cool car without worrying about petrol wastage
Wouldn’t miss any of those features. Nice to have for a luxury car but unnecessary on a budget car.
FYI BYD Atto 3 and BYD Dolphin have never had rain-sensing wipers. Source: I own both Atto 3 and Dolphin.
Wow! And there I thought they had better specs than the MG4 and ZS EV…
also never had the digital key either…
They have a card key and also I think the digital key is for some other markets at this time.
I thought digital key would be the app. Shame we don't have Bluetooth key here too
Test drove an Atto 3 before buying a Model Y.
Great car. If the interior wasn't horrific I would have gone with BYD.
Model Y prices are likely to drop further so you might have the best of both worlds
Sounded like he already paid for the Tesla.
well if he buys another 2 or 3 Model Y's, he can lower the average cost of the first car.
I know different people like different styles but to me, the interior of the byd is really nice, especially in comparison to the mg ( my god that looks like it's from the 90s)
agree with you, but the Model 3 interior is pretty absent as well…
Is Atto the refreshed model?
The shape is the same. Just a few minor changes including a larger infotainment and improved tyres.
Waiting for Aldi to release an EV as part of their special buys.
Saturday morning queues gonna be wild.
"Experiencing delays" on the specials buys page.
Not a fan of the lil fu manchu moustache?