GWM not worried about falling behind 'amazing' BYD

GWM has followed MG in singing the praises of fellow Chinese brand BYD, but maintains that it's fully focused on its own sales targets despite slower growth.

BYD, which came within just 243 units of surpassing market leader Toyota in June 2026, has skyrocketed up the sales charts.

It only launched locally in 2022, but it's already well ahead of the much more established GWM, which set up shop in Australia in 2009 as Great Wall.

BYD is now posting monthly sales figures that are triple GWM's, despite the latter being the highest-selling Chinese brand in Australia in 2025. But GWM isn't bitter, and local COO John Kett has maintained that BYD deserves its success.

"Firstly, they're an amazing company. When I think about how they started, they were super smart," he told CarExpert at the local media launch for the Ora 5 SUV.

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"They started fresh with these incredible products at a time when both EVs and plug-in hybrids were FBT-exempt. 

"So if you go back in time, they've set up a network through Eagers; it was a brand-new group of people selling them. It's an agency model where they don't want to discount, but they leveraged the novated lease base incredibly well. In fact, to be honest, they drove all those [lease] gains."

Indeed, BYD enlisted Eagers Automotive – Australia's largest car dealership group – as its exclusive retailer when it entered the local market four years ago. That agreement changed in 2025, allowing BYD to appoint other authorised dealers outside of the existing Eagers network.

BYD's Australian efforts were also kick-started by the Federal Government's fringe benefits tax (FBT) exemption, which effectively meant that many electrified vehicles priced below the Luxury Car Tax (LCT) threshold could be leased using an individual's pre-tax salary.

This resulted in significant savings on lease payments and made it easier to get behind the wheel of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs), though the FBT exemption for PHEVs ended in 2025. BYD, with its PHEV- and EV-only lineup, was perfectly placed to capitalise on such incentives.

"I think in that regard, that was very, very strong. Globally, the aura around that brand and the way they positioned it, I think, also lent a lot of credibility," Mr Kett added.

"I don’t think there’s any shame in the fact they have moved so far ahead of us; they’re doing it globally."

Sales-wise, BYD Australia ended 2025 with a massive 156.2 per cent year-on-year sales growth, up sharply on GWM's more modest 23.4 per cent increase.

In June 2026 alone, BYD posted a 131.5 per cent sales increase over June 2025, delivering 18,881 vehicles and coming in second behind only Toyota. GWM, meanwhile, recorded monthly growth of 11.7 per cent, with 6104 vehicles delivered. It came in eighth, between Mazda and MG.

Looking at the sales charts for the first half of 2026, the difference between BYD and GWM is stark: the former now sits comfortably in second place behind only Toyota, while GWM is in seventh between Hyundai and Chery.

Still, GWM is targeting a top-five Australian sales position by the end of 2027, ahead of its long-term goal of becoming a top-three brand. For context, GWM posted a total of 52,809 deliveries for 2025, marginally ahead of BYD's 52,415.

"When we think about what we’re doing, we’re just trying to build our business – we’ve gone from 32,000, 42,000, and 52,000 [units] last year; we’ll be at 62,000 to 65,000 this year, for certain," Mr Kett told CarExpert.

"We’re just starting to reach this threshold within ourselves as to what the next breakthrough to get to 75,000 and beyond is. I don’t know where that threshold is for BYD."

GWM plans to boost sales by kicking off a product onslaught over the next six months. It's already introduced the Ora 5 SUV – its first new EV in three years – and will soon roll out new PHEV and diesel powertrains, model facelifts, a handful of new cars, and even a new sub-brand, Wey.

It also insists it has unlimited access to GWM's entire global vehicle portfolio, including its new V8 engine. The brand's approach involves covering a broad range of powertrains and vehicle segments, unlike BYD's electrified focus.

"For us, without truly worrying about BYD, we're focused on how we’re going to get to our 75,000. We certainly think our current portfolio and our expansion into fleet channels we’ve never operated in will take us a long way there," Mr Kett said.

"We think this portfolio won’t just simply cannibalise the gains that we’ve made – we think it’s the next step."

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