People who work for Toyota Motor and Ford Motor might feel a little uneasy on Wednesday morning. It’s because of a new BYD car.
The Chinese company that makes electric cars showed off their Shark pickup truck in Mexico on Tuesday. The plug-in hybrid truck is a little longer than a Ford Maverick and about the same size as a Toyota Tacoma. It’s the first truck that the company has made.
Two electric motors in the shark’s 1.5-liter engine make 430 horsepower. The truck can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in about six seconds. It can pull up to 5,500 pounds, which is about the same as a Tacoma.
The inside looks like a mix of a Tesla (with its famous iPad-like screen in the middle) and a regular truck. The outside doesn’t look like the cutting-edge Tesla Cybertruck; it looks like a normal pickup.
The Tacoma-sized truck that Toyota sells in other countries is called the Hilux, and it is one of the most popular trucks in the world. People around the world like trucks that are a bit smaller than the Ford F-150.
People in the US also love full-size trucks. In the U.S., pickup trucks are the three most popular cars. First is the Ford F-150, then the Chevy Silverado, and finally the Dodge Ram. Also in the top ten is the GMC Sierra. There are gas-powered, hybrid, and all-electric versions of the best-selling F-150 on the market.
People in the US also like smaller trucks. It was the fifth most popular truck in the U.S. in 2023 and the 12th most popular car overall. The Ford Maverick wasn’t even close to being one of the 25 best-selling cars.
The Shark won’t be coming to the U.S. any time soon, though. It was made in China, which is where BYD’s factories are located. Because of this, it would be subject to an import tax, which President Joe Biden recently said would go up from 25% to 100%. In the past year, BYD exported 13.1% of its light vehicles from China. This is up from 7.1% the year before. The Shark will start at about $53,000 in Mexico, making it a high-end car. In Mexico, a Toyota Hilux costs around $30,000.
About 1.3 million light vehicles were sold in Mexico in 2023. About 15.5 million cars were sold in the U.S.
In trading outside of China, BYD shares went up 0.2%. The S&P 500 was up 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1% early Wednesday morning. Ford stock was down 1.3% to $12.28 a share.
