Almost 5000 new BYDs and Denzas set sail to Australia to meet demand

BYD has released details of its “first special shipment” of almost 5000 additional vehicles for Australia, which is currently on its way from China.

The fleet of 4810 new vehicles is aboard one of BYD’s eight purpose-built, roll-on roll-off (RORO) car-carrying vessels, called the BYD Zhengzhou.

It has left Shanghai, and will arrive in Melbourne on June 2, 2026 before heading on to Sydney and Brisbane.

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BYD says the cargo will be “evenly dispersed” across these three cities, with “essential works” among the first to take delivery of vehicles on board.

Over 2000 of the 4810 vehicles on the ship are BYD Atto 2 and Sealion 7 electric SUVs, but BYD also notes examples of the Denza B5 off-road SUV and D9 people mover are also on the manifest, while a video of the ship being loaded also shows BYD Atto 1, Sealion 6, Sealion 8, Seal 6 and Shark 6 vehicles.

“BYD is demonstrating that it has the ability to respond quickly to customer needs, and act fast,” said BYD Australia chief operating officer Stephen Collins in a press release.

“BYD’s vertically integrated system allows it to scale production as required, with a fleet of BYD-owned vessels ready to take cars wherever they need to go almost anywhere in the world.”

BYD committed in April to shipping 30,000 vehicles to Australia across May and June in response to record fuel prices driving a sales spike.

“We’ve got pretty significant back-orders, and obviously [expect] April, May and June to be strong – seasonally it’s always strong – so we’re expecting the vast majority of those vehicles will be sold,” said Mr Collins in April.

The company delivered an all-time high number of 7702 vehicles in Australia in April, beating its previous record set just a month earlier of 7217 vehicles.

That drove BYD to become the second best-selling brand in Australia last month, behind only the dominant Toyota (15,185 deliveries).

Year-to-date it’s sitting in fifth place with 25,243 sales, just a few hundred units shy of fourth-placed Ford (25,920).

BYD’s best-selling model so far this year is the Sealion 7 mid-size electric SUV (6248), followed by three plug-in hybrids (PHEVs): the Shark 6 ute (4851), Sealion 8 large SUV (2491) and Sealion 6 medium SUV (2292).

The Atto 2 small electric SUV is sitting in fifth place with 2141 deliveries.

While BYD made headlines in 2025 for widespread stockpiling of vehicles – including in the parking area of a family theme park south of Sydney – the recent sales surge has significantly reduced its inventory levels.

BYD has dramatically expanded its local lineup in the past few months, introducing the Atto 1 and Atto 2 EVs and the Seal 6, Sealion 5 and Sealion 8 PHEVs. It’s also expanding its popular Shark 6 dual-cab lineup.

Separately, BYD has launched its premium Denza brand here, where customer deliveries of the B5 and B8 off-road SUVs and the D9 people mover commenced earlier this year.

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