The upcoming pick-up truck by Chinese manufacturer BYD has been sighted on test once again, and this time it has been sighted without its camouflage foil by Korean site Autospy, offering the clearest view so far of the Chinese manufacturer’s double-cab pick-up truck. This latest sighting of the BYD pick-up truck also partly reveals its interior, which although continues to wear some covering, can be seen to feature a pair of display screens – one for driver instrumentation, and the other for infotainment which, like on other BYD model’s already in production, can be rotated to work in either portrait or landscape orientation.
While the spy images from Autospy are of a
left-hand-drive vehicle, presumably from its native China, Car Expert has been
told by the brand’s local distributor in the country that there are development
units already in Australia which are being tested. Some of the local stylings
and attributes that people want to see in a ute or pickup, have already been
implemented by the Australian engineers in partnership with BYD engineers in
China,” Todd continued.
In terms of powertrain, the upcoming BYD
pick-up truck will first be offered with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, as well
as a fully electric powertrain that will debut at a later date, according to
the Australian website. The PHEV setup will consist of a 1.5 litre turbocharged
engine mated with two electric motors to yield a total system output of 365 kW (496 PS). The full EV powertrain version will join the pick-up truck’s line-up
at a later date, Todd told Car Expert, as as bringing an EV pick-up such as
this to market right now would see the model priced above AUD$ 100,000, Todd said.
In terms of a similar model from Chinese
brands, the Radar RD6 from the Geely group is the closest rival to the upcoming
BYD pick-up truck. Like the latter, the Radar RD6 takes the form of a dual-cab
pick-up truck, and the RD6 is similar to the Toyota Hilux in size, at 5,260 mm
long, 1,900 mm wide and 1,830 mm tall with a wheelbase of 3,120 mm.
