Byd Shark pickup truck made by China is a predator surrounding the global truck market

DETROIT – There is a shark surrounding one of the largest profit pools for American automakers globally, as Chinese automaker BYD Auto Expand your reach and product portfolio with a truck.

Without the vehicle's brand badge, Byd Shark could pass as an American-made product. In many ways, it looks like a smaller truck. Ford Motor. The China-made truck features a rare exterior pairs of a Ford Explorer mixed with the popular F-150, part of the Ford brand's best-selling truck line in the US for 48 years.

Like Byd's Seagull, a small all-electric hatchback that starts at just 69,800 yuan (or less than $10,000), there are fears among global automakers that Chinese rivals like the Warren Buffett-backed BYD could flood their markets, undermining domestic production and vehicle prices. to the detriment of their own automotive industries.

BYD has not announced plans to sell the shark in the United States, but it has entered countries where General MotorsFord and Toyota engine Sell ​​vans, including Australia, Brazil and Mexico.

In the US, pickup trucks are the bread and butter vehicles for Detroit automakers, combining millions of units of sales annually. They have also become increasingly important to Toyota in the United States and globally.

“When you consider the importance, from a revenue perspective, that these products bring to manufacturers, it's franchising,” said Terry Woychowski, president of Automotive at Caresoft Global, who was previously a chief engineer for GM full-size trucks. “There has been a lot of interest in this vehicle because of the market.”

Caresoft, an engineering benchmarking and consulting firm, has pulled down and examined approximately 40 electric vehicles from the likes of BYD, NiO and others.

The Michigan-based company digitally and physically analyzes every part of a vehicle, from screws and latches to seats, motors and battery guts. It then determines how its customers, primarily automakers and suppliers, can improve efficiency and reduce costs in their products.

Automakers like Ford and Toyota that rely heavily on sales of smaller pickup trucks globally have taken notice of the BYD shark.

“It's a great product. It sells well. They're trying to sell in high volume in Mexico, but it's also localizing in Thailand,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said when asked by CNBC earlier this month about the shark. BYD. “If we want to be a global player in trucks, like we are now, we have to compete.”

While Ford's F-150 reigns supreme in the US, Toyota's Hilux has been the best-selling truck outside of North America for many years. Toyota has sold 19.8 million Hilux trucks since its introduction in 1968, including a record 851,000 units in 2022.

When asked about Chinese competitors earlier this month, Toyota President Akio Toyoda said the company “must be prepared to respond to the global needs of global markets,” regardless of the competition.

“We try to focus on the needs of each individual market and try to be the best in town. So that will be the strategy we have,” Toyoda said during a media roundtable at the CES Tech Conference.

BYD reportedly exported more than 10,000 BYD sharks in 2024. Such sales are expected to increase in the future, especially as the company prepares to expand production.

BYD has increased its share of China's vehicle exports from 2%, or less than 56,000 units, in 2022 to 8% in 2024, or 350,500 units, according to BofA Securities.

Exporting has continued to help BYD increase its worldwide sales to approximately 4.3 million vehicles in 2024, compared to approximately 3 million the previous year. Wall Street analysts expect it to continue growing this year to about 5.5 million this year, according to Goldman Sachs.

“BYD is beginning to tap the overseas market with compelling (highly competitive and innovative) products, which we expect to become a second growth driver for the company, contributing 31% of incremental vehicle sales volume during 2022.” -2030E, Goldman Sachs analyst Tina Hou said in an investor note on Jan. 14.

Byd Shark is expected to help the automaker increase its sales and profits. It is a midsize pickup truck, which has a smaller market in the US compared to the world, with a plug-in hybrid powertrain that combines electrical vehicle components such as a battery and electric motors with a small internal combustion engine. 1.5 liters.

The vehicle can operate as an all-electric vehicle or have the motor power its batteries and electric motors, with a range of more than 500 combined miles between the battery and motor, according to BYD.

The shark starts at about 899,980 pesos ($44,000) in Mexico. That's much more than BYD's other models, but still much cheaper than many hybrid or all-electric trucks in the U.S. It's in line with the price of mid-range models of the Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma. in Mexico.

Taking the BYD Shark for a spin on private property with a mix of smooth and broken pavement in Michigan, the truck drives well. Its acceleration is fast, but not as fast as the tesla All-electric pickups from Cybertruck or GM. It's quiet, but there's definitely room for improvements in the ride and handling, which feel a little less refined than current trucks in the United States.

The Shark's overall build quality is impressive, but there are quirky elements to the vehicle, as well as some best practices “shared” with current Ford and GM pickups, according to Woychowski.

Some practical and familiar elements include that the overall exterior design is similar to the F-150, including its lighting and a retreat step; the interior design of the front seat resembles Toyota; and certain production aspects of the vehicle that are used from other trucks. In particular, its frame, the backbone of the vehicle, is dipped in wax. That's a process to reduce corrosion that GM has been doing for decades, according to Woychowski.

“You can tell where they compare and who,” Woychowski said as he inspected the vehicle beneath the body. “Ford back here, GM below and Toyota there.”

That's not to say the vehicle isn't unique. While Caresoft still needs to bring down the shark to better understand its construction processes and parts, the interior design of the vehicle and, in particular, its hybrid powertrain is unlike anything currently offered in the United States.

For example, some of the battery technology is placed under the rear seats, eliminating storage space, and there are bungee cords to support the vehicle's rear seat when folded.

“This is actually pretty poorly done,” Woychowski said of the backseat. “I'd watch this space. I bet they fix this up pretty well.”

Other unusual elements not so easy to spot include an overengineered rear suspension with dual control arms (rather than one each); a considerably straight frame; An unnecessary amount of jack is raised under the vehicle to lift it; And using hydraulic arms for the heavy tailgate, he said.

Woychowski said customers have been especially interested in Chinese automakers, including BYD, because of their growth and speed in developing new products and making improvements to existing models.

“It's a credible truck,” Woychowski said of the shark. “There are some things they did very well. There are some things they can do to clean it up, but that's not a hard job to do.”

– CNBC's Michael Bloom contributed to this report.