BYD recently launched its first global pickup truck, the Shark, which it plans to sell exclusively with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. It’s available in many markets outside its native China, including Australia, and Mexico, where other BYD models like the fully electric Seal and Dolphin are also sold.
There are no plans to sell the Shark in the U.S., but it looks like someone drove one across the border from Mexico. Reddit user ObviousPerformance56 spotted one and snapped a photo of it stopped in a Scottsdale, Arizona parking lot. No additional details were shared, but the license plate appears Mexican, possibly from the state of Sonora, which borders Arizona—it's not uncommon to see vehicles registered in Mexico in the border states.
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The BYD Shark is a tempting plug-in hybrid pickup
With plenty of power and gadgets, a fairly big battery that provides a claimed 62 miles of electric range and chiseled good looks, the BYD Shark would probably win over a few buyers if sold in the US.
The BYD Shark is a bit bigger than a Ford Ranger but smaller than an F-150. Its primary power source is a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, which, together with two electric motors, makes 435 horsepower. Its 29.6-kilowatt-hour battery pack gives it a claimed electric range of 62 miles (100 km), and it can be fast-charged at up to 40 kilowatts.
It is rated to tow 2.5 tons, or just over 5,500 pounds, the same as the performance-oriented 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor. That’s less than most pickup work trucks, but it’s still an acceptable rating for something its size.
If BYD brought it to the U.S., it would rival not only the Ford Ranger and the smaller Maverick but also the Toyota Tacoma, Honda Ridgeline, GMC Canyon, and Nissan Frontier. All these trucks start under $40,000, so the Shark would look expensive by comparison.
There aren’t many similarly electrified rivals, though. None of the similar-size rivals offer a plug-in variant. The Ram 1500 Ramcharger range extender and the Jeep Gladiator 4xe PHEV would be alternatives, with the latter expected to arrive in the US next year.
Price would be the deciding factor for the BYD Shark's potential popularity in the U.S. With the current 100% import tariff imposed on vehicles manufactured in China, selling them wouldn't make sense as they would probably cost over $80,000. However, if BYD managed to manufacture it somewhere in the Americas and thus keep tariffs low, this should be its first vehicle sold in the US.
It’s known that BYD sells its vehicles outside China for more than back home. BYD vehicles are sold in Europe, which also imposes high import tariffs on Chinese cars. Combine this with the manufacturer markup and the affordable BYD Dolphin EV, which costs the equivalent of about $16,500 in China and exceeds $37,000 in Germany, making it more than twice as expensive.
The much higher price in Germany isn’t just due to tariffs. BYD applies markup to the vehicle, and it would likely be the same if the Shark were sold in the US. In Mexico, the BYD Shark starts at just under 900,000 pesos (about $53,400), while in China, you can have one for about 300,000 yuan (under $41,500).
Even though the U.S. has been pressuring Mexico to increase tariffs to stop what is expected to be a flood of Chinese vehicles, Mexico hasn’t complied, and the tariffs are still relatively low. The cost of transporting vehicles from China to the American continent has increased in recent years, though, and this plus markups would explain why the Shark costs over $10,000 more in Mexico.
BYD could circumvent the high tariff and start selling vehicles in the U.S. if it moves forward with its plan to build a manufacturing plant in Mexico. Reuters reported in late February that BYD was looking for a suitable location to build the factory, which would have an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles.
The stated goal of this plant is to supply vehicles for the local Mexican market as well as nearby Brazil, where BYD is also present. BYD hasn’t disclosed which models it plans to build in Mexico, though, or any specifics about its production goals beyond the planned yearly production quota—we don’t know if the Shark is among the vehicles it intends to manufacture there.
Would you buy a BYD Shark plug-in hybrid pickup manufactured in Mexico and sold at a reasonable price? Let us know in the comments.
