Good news for BYD Atto 3 buyers: production is underway and ship allocation has commenced for what is currently the most affordable EV in Australia. But, new customers could now be waiting until 2023 to get their hands on some configurations.
When order books opened for the BYD Atto 3 in February, its low price starting at $44,381 before on-roads caused a hullabaloo: importer EV Direct had undercut the MG ZS EV, previously the most affordable EV in Australia.
A subsequent comparison of the BYD Atto3 then showed it delivered the “best bang for buck” in terms of cost per kilometre of driving range, out of any EV currently available new in Australia.
Despite an upbeat attitude previously from EV Direct management that the first deliveries of the BYD Atto 3 would commence in July, the company finally told customers that “supply chain issues and logistics disruptions” had caused delays.
As reported by The Driven on Monday, customers awaiting BYD’s highly anticipated Atto 3 were notified late last week that their orders had been delayed by up to two months.
Despite the extension of wait times, existing customers have had another update this week from the BYD local distributor EV Direct on the status of their deliveries, suggesting the company is at least keen to keep its new customers informed on progress amid continuing industry difficulties.
But, new customers ordering certain BYD Atto 3 configurations will now have to wait until 2023 to take delivery.
Production underway for early BYD customers
The email from EV Direct outlining BYD Atto 3 order delays by 6-8 weeks was sent to early customers who had placed an order at the timing of the initial launch back in the first quarter of 2022.
Now it has emerged that some have started to receive updates from EV Direct on their BYD Atto 3 EVs going into production and have been allocated to ships.
A customer care message sent to a BYD customer who had asked why their delivery date had been pushed back on Thursday and sighted by The Driven said: “Due the large number of orders and shipping issues we have had to allocate orders in priority of when they placed their order to match the available ships.”
The customer said they had been told they are set to receive their vehiclein from July to September/October, according to their place in the order queue.
“We have 3000 cars allocated across 10 ships,” said the BYD email. “Your vehicle is still in the same position in the queue as you were, it just relates to places on ships. We are committed to having your car arrive as soon as possible.”
Nevertheless, both developments signal a step forward for early adopters of the brand who placed an order on a car they have never driven before or a brand many have heard of in Australia.
The estimated delivery time understood by The Driven is August/September which is in line with the email many order holders received last week.
This is exciting news for customers and gives confidence to others thinking of buying their first new affordable EV. This is also great news for EV uptake as a whole in the second half of 2022.
BYD Atto 3 wait times increase
However, with demand for EVs on the rise in Australia, so are the wait times some buyers are choosing to wait. BYD launch in Australia back in March slated first orders to be delivered in July.
The July deliveries have not happened due to the supply chain and other factors causing delays in the production of their ground-up EVs. Now, the wait time for the new Atto 3 Standard model has extended into January 2023.
The change was first noticed earlier this week by customers looking to get into their first new EV this year. The extended delivery times also apply to all 3 colours available in the Standard range model.
For the fourth colour, it’s worth noting that the Atto 3 in red is only available in the extended range model.
The extended range model remains to be available on this side of the new year for local Australian customers.
BYD Atto 3 customers will also be eligible for subsidies in most states and territories since both models fall under the $58,000 driveaway mark. This includes the cap on EV purchase subsidy eligibility in Queensland which was switched on earlier this month (NSW, Victoria and South Australia have a higher threshold of $68,740 to $68,750.)
