If you reckon you’ve heard a lot about and from BYD in recent times standby.

As part of a comprehensive long term strategy the burgeoning Chinese brand is determined to embed itself in Australian society and culture.

It will do that by investing in everything from national level professional sport to local community events.

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“We’re really looking to invest heavily in building the brand,” BYD Australia Chief Operating Officer Stephen Collins told EV Central.

The BYD factory took over distribution rights to its vehicles in Australia from independent operator EV Direct in July.

Collins has already outlined the practical benefits the change in distribution will almost immediately deliver to BYD customers, but there are longer term aims as well.

BYD Australia will be able to bring the budgetary heft of its parent to bear on brand promotions as it aims in the long term to embed itself among the top-selling brands here and potentially even challenge perennial market leader Toyota.

BYD sales are up 144 per cent in the first six  months of 2025 and it sits eighth on the sales ladder.  The Shark 6 PHEV ute, Sealion 6 PHEV SUV and Sealion 7 electric SUV are leading the sales push.

BYD recently celebrated its 60,000th Australian sale, with global boss Wang Chuanfu turning up at a Melbourne dealership to hand the car over to its new ower.

“EV Direct have done a great job, but we want to take it to the next level,” declared Collins.

“We want to really build our awareness, consideration, and really get on the shopping list for anyone in the market, particularly for SUVs and pickups.

“What consumers will see is a stronger presence in the market around the values of BYD, of which I think are unique technology, safety, styling, and value for money.

“You’re going to see a lot more of our brand and what we stand for in the marketplace.

“That means promotional strategies of various different types, be it backing a football league or a football team or getting involved in something, whatever it may be. Big, small. We want to do grassroots stuff.

“We’re currently a major sponsor of the [National Rugby League] Roosters. We’re looking elsewhere at what we can really have really strong partners in the longer term.

“There’ll be more presence in the market and really just conveying the uniqueness of what we can bring.”

Collins said the Australianisation of the brand would also include more local testing and tuning of vehicles than currently takes place.

GWM is the Chinese brand most obviously committed to the localisation path, securing engineering gun Rob Trubiani and becoming a permanent resident at the VinFast-owned former Holden proving ground at Lang Lang in Victoria.

“We have a team of local engineers internally [but] I don’t think we’re quite at this point as well advanced as some other brands,” admitted Collins.

“But definitely, that localisation piece I think is really important so we’re going to build that over time.

“What that might look like in a couple of years I’m not really sure but I think there’s a strong commitment from locally and globally that the localisation piece is really important.”

Collins acknowledged that not everyone in Australia is entirely positive about Chinese car companies.

But he was clear in his view that the positives outweighed any negatives that might be cited.

“I think VFACTS [sales figures] shows that behind Japan and Thailand, China is now the third biggest source of vehicles year to date in the marketplace.

“It’s not far behind Thailand and I think very shortly will overtake Thailand.

“So I think the products, the brands, etcetera … are really well accepted and I think that’s just improving.

“To me, consumers, want good design, they want good tech, they want good safety, they want good value, they want all the boxes ticked and I think we tick – if not all – the vast majority of those boxes.

“The numbers suggest that the acceptance of Chinese car brands is growing at a rapid rate. I think the numbers tell the story.”