After years of the ute segment being mostly untouched, there’s been a recent surge of new utes which have arrived in this corner of the southern hemisphere.
It appears to be from all sides, with several new entrants into the 3.5-tonne class including the GWM Cannon, the Cannon Alpha, and the JAC T9. American trucks, such as the Chevrolet Silverado and RAM 1500, have been trickling onto our roads, and now electrified utes are beginning to emerge.
The BYD Shark 6 is one of the latter, being the first plug-in hybrid ute available in New Zealand. On paper, the BYD seems serious, offering plenty of performance and equipment for a not-so-serious price.
Interestingly, the Shark 6 is more electric than not, utilising its turbocharged petrol engine to charge its 29kWh battery most of the time, and using the electric motors to drive the wheels.
The thing is, the turbodiesel ute is a bit of an institution in New Zealand. Also, the last time an electric ute showed up, it didn’t go that well.
So, is the Shark 6 a proper turbodiesel ute replacement? More importantly, is it good enough to tempt Kiwi buyers away from Rangers and Hiluxes?
What We Like and Dislike About The 2025 BYD Shark 6
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Straight-line performance and powertrain responsiveness Ride comfort Low cabin noise High spec infotainment Interior quality Value | Clinical performance delivery Compromised tow and payload rating Thirsty when using the petrol engine Seen-it-before styling Weight |
What’s In the 2025 BYD Shark 6 Range?
There’s only one variant of the BYD Shark 6 available in New Zealand. It’s priced from $69,990.
The BYD Shark 6 is a plug-in hybrid double-cab ute utilising a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine, two electric motors and a 29.6kW battery. Combined, the Shark 6 produces 320 kW of power and 650 Nm of torque, and can provide a claimed electric-only range up to 100 kilometres per charge.
There are four colours available for the Shark 6, but only Great White is offered as standard. The other three cost an extra $1,250.
- Deep Sea Blue
- Sunset Orange
- Tidal Black
For more information on the new BYD Shark 6, check out the BYD New Zealand website.
How Does The 2025 BYD Shark 6 Compare To Its Competition?
For now, the BYD Shark 6 is one of only a few plug-in hybrid utes available in New Zealand, making it a unique proposition among its turbo-diesel ute competitors. It’s far and away from being the most expensive too.
| Make/Model | Engine | Power/Torque (kW/Nm) | Fuel (L/100km) | Towing capacity (Kg) | Price |
| Volkswagen Amarok Aventura TDI | 3.0-litre 6-cylinder turbodiesel | 184/600 | 9.6 | 750/3,500 | $109,000 |
| Ford Ranger Raptor V6 | 3.0-litre 6-cylinder twin-turbo petrol | 292/583 | 11.5 | 750/2,500 | $96,490 |
| Ford Ranger Wildtrak PHEV | 2.3-litre 4-cylinder turbo petrol plug-in hybrid | 207/697 | 2.9* | 750/3,500 | $89,990 |
| Ford Ranger Raptor Bi-Turbo | 2.0-litre 4-cylinder twin-turbo diesel | 150/500 | 10.2 | 750/2,500 | $86,990 |
| Ford Ranger Wildtrak V6 | 3.0-litre 6-cylinder turbodiesel | 184/600 | 8.4 | 750/3,500 | $85,990 |
| GWM Cannon Alpha Ultra PHEV | 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo petrol plug-in hybrid | 300/750 | 1.7 | 750/3,500 | $76,990 |
| Toyota Hilux GR Sport | 2.8-litre 4-cylinder turbodiesel mild hybrid | 165/550 | 9.3 | 750/3,500 | $75,490 |
| BYD Shark 6 | 1.5-litre 4-cylinder turbo petrol engine with dual electric motors | 321/650 | 2.0* | 750/2,500 | $69,990 |
| GWM Cannon Alpha Ultra Hybrid | 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo petrol hybrid | 255/648 | 9.8 | 750/3,500 | $68,990 |
| Isuzu D-MAX X-Terrain | 3.0-litre 4-cylinder turbodiesel | 140/450 | 9.2 | 750/3,500 | $67,990 |
| Toyota Hilux SR5 Cruiser | 2.8-litre 4-cylinder turbodiesel mild hybrid | 150/500 | 8.7 | 750/3,500 | $65,490 |
| Nissan Navara Pro-4X | 2.3-litre 4-cylinder twin-turbo diesel | 140/450 | 7.6 | 750/3,500 | $59,990 |
| Mitsubishi Triton VRX | 2.4-litre 4-cylinder twin- turbo diesel | 150/470 | 8.8 | 750/3,500 | $59,990 |
First Impressions of The 2025 BYD Shark 6
This BYD is great in size, its colour is white, and it is aptly called the Shark.
Unlike my not-so-great puns, the name ‘Shark’ is quite suitable for a ute that’s pushing 5.5 metres in length and 2 metres in width.
With these dimensions, the BYD Shark 6 is one of the largest utes available in New Zealand, edging out the already massive GWM Cannon Alpha, and only being beaten by trucks hailing from the United States.
Despite its imposing size, the Shark isn’t shouty about its presence. Instead, the design leans towards minimalism. Its lines are clean and straight, and high-quality exterior lighting provides the Shark with a modern and upmarket appearance. It’s kind of what you’d expect an electric ute to look like.
Although, I wouldn’t exactly call it a fully original design. In other words, you can see where BYD designers have taken, um, inspiration, from other brands.
Specifically, the C-clamp style LED headlights and “BYD” block lettering across the grille do closely resemble certain utes and trucks wearing a blue oval badge. Admittedly, the front end is mostly where it stops, although the taillight silhouette also reminds me of the Polestar 2, but upside down.
I suppose it doesn’t really matter, because its all subjective anyway. Ultimately, I reckon the BYD Shark is a sharp-looking ute.
What’s The Interior Like In The 2025 BYD Shark 6?
It’s only recently that Chinese brands have made credible inroads into the New Zealand market. Sure, we have had brands like Chery around since the early 2010’s, but they failed to make any meaningful impact.
The reason shouldn’t surprise anybody. Early Chinese vehicles weren’t exactly of export quality, if we’re being polite about it. It’s a stigma which still lingers today. Even for myself, as someone who regularly tests new vehicles, I have only recently gotten used to Chinese brands being competitive.
So, I still get a slight shock when I encounter a vehicle like the BYD Shark. A new brand, entering a new segment of the market, with a new vehicle, that’s not only competitive on price, but also betters many in the segment in terms of interior quality.
The quality is immediately evident upon entering the cabin. Everything feels solid and well put together. The touch points are of good quality, and most of the switchgear has a nice tactility to it. I say most, because I’m not fully convinced with those on the steering wheel.
Minor gripes aside, this interior is genuinely one of the nicest in the ute segment. There’s only one competitor which might consistently outscore it, being the GWM Cannon Alpha – another Chinese ute.
As is the trend with new vehicles, the Shark has a massive 15.6’’ central infotainment system, similar to that which is used in BYD’s Atto 3, Seal and Sealion, plus a few unique menus specific to the Shark 6’s powertrain (more on this later).
In general, the infotainment system is excellent. It’s high-resolution, responsive and demonstrates quick loading times. The UI is developed by BYD with an interface that’s much like a tablet PC.
Compared with competition, the infotainment is several generations ahead of those found in a Toyota Hilux, Mitsubishi Triton or Isuzu D-Max.
Connected through the infotainment, one can access the Shark’s exterior cameras, all of which are high-resolution and seemingly provide a gazillion different viewpoints.
Compared to the infotainment, the BYD’s 10.25’’ digital instrument cluster isn’t quite as high-tech. Although, the screen has good resolution and has medium levels of configurability including the option to have the sat-nav screen displayed in full-screen.
Between all the technology and the nice trimmings, the BYD does sacrifice a certain amount of bash-ability which one might desire if intending to use their ute as a work vehicle. Still, I wouldn’t count this against the BYD, but instead would consider the Shark 6 to be more suited to the lifestyle or corporate buyer, as opposed to those in the trades.
This point is underscored by the BYD’s rear payload rating, which is only 790kg – or roughly 200kg less than most of the turbodiesel ute crowd. Towing is also compromised, but more on this later.
Even then, the rear tray of the BYD is sizable, measuring 1,520mm long, 1,500mm wide, and 1,200mm between the arches. There’s even a few nifty features, including an electromechanical tailgate (operated by a double push-button), a series of LED bed lights and three 10A power outlets. Because the BYD carries a 29kWh battery (most houses use about 20kWh of power in a day), you could probably take your DJ decks camping if you so desired.
The only genuine complaint I had about the Shark was to do with the keyless entry system. It sometimes failed to respond when grabbing the door handle – not all the time, but enough to be annoying. Interestingly, the remote locking had incredible range, where I could unlock the vehicle from over 20 metres away without direct line of sight
I also got a small chuckle when I noticed the warning label on the back of the rear seats.
Although I can’t hold anything against BYD for having some fragmented English. The Japanese had the same problem in some of their cars in the early 1990s. My 1992 Mazda MX-5 has a plaque on the floormat which says “Roadster is a convertible lightweight sports”.
What’s The 2025 BYD Shark 6 Like To Drive?
We’re already aware that the BYD Shark is quite different compared to the turbodiesel utes it shares the segment with.
Although, some of you mightn’t fully appreciate how different it actually is. In short, the BYD Shark is one of the most complex utes, and probably the least ute-like of any ute available in New Zealand.
Underneath, the BYD Shark utilises a 1.5-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, two electric motors, and a 29kWh battery. Yet, it doesn’t operate like other PHEVs we’re familiar with.
Normally, Shark doesn’t run around with all of its powertrains working simultaneously. Instead, the Shark behaves more like an electric vehicle, utilising its electric motors for driving with power being supplied from the battery.
The petrol engine switches on when the battery depletes to a certain state of charge, but then, it’ll only charge its battery. By comparison, other PHEVs would have the engine ‘take over’ from the electric motors when charge is depleted, but with the Shark, it continues using its electric motors to drive the wheels while the engine charges the battery.
So, how does the Shark keep driving if the battery is fully dead? Here’s the trick – the Shark will not (or should not) ever fully deplete its battery.
Instead, it keeps a minimum state of charge of 25% in the battery. The petrol engine will kick in at 25%, to ensure there’s enough juice for driving and to power the litany of electronics. The engine will stay running until it does, including when you’ve parked and haven’t plugged it in.
Essentially, the engine is an on-board generator and the Shark drives around more like an electric vehicle. But even then, this isn’t the entire truth.
The Shark can actually use its engine to power the front wheels under select conditions. Specifically, when you’re travelling above 70kph and pressing hard on the accelerator. The Shark will couple the engine to the front axle via direct drive to support the electric motors. Note, that the Shark has no gearbox.
To add even more complexity, you can also alter the minimum state of charge, but not below 25%. This is done through the infotainment, which essentially tells the Shark when it should kick on the engine. BYD suggests doing this under harder load applications, specifically when towing or on lengthy drives.
It’s a lot to digest, isn’t it? Although, it’s much easier to comprehend all of this once you’re behind the wheel. It also makes the Shark quite unique to drive compared to other utes.
Firstly, the Shark is quick. Between all of its power sources, the Shark cumulatively produces 320kW of power and 650Nm of torque.
Because the electric motors do virtually all of the driving, peak torque is available nearly immediately (like an EV). This allows the Shark to shift its gargantuan frame from 0-100kph in a claimed 5.9 seconds, putting it on par with the Ford Ranger Raptor V6.
The battery itself is good for about 100 kilometres (NEDC) of pure EV driving, before the engine kicks on, providing a total petrol-electric driving range of around 790 kilometres. Also, that performance delivery is smooth and quiet, and the cabin is superbly insulated that you’ll barely hear the engine when it does start up.
Secondly, the Shark is packaged quite differently to other utes. It still has a ladder frame chassis, but because it needs to accommodate an engine, two electric motors and a battery, the Shark utilises front and rear double wishbone suspension.
In fact, the rear suspension actually uses two side-by-side double wishbones, making it a double-double wishbone?
Anyway, this means Shark has considerably better road manners compared with most turbodiesel utes, which use a MacPherson strut on the front and leaf springs at the rear.
Basically, the ride quality of the Shark is SUV-like. Also, the weight of the battery being low in the frame, provides the Shark with good stability and roadholding ability.
That said, the Shark is still a ladder-frame vehicle, and with the battery presumably adding extra rigidity, it does still feel quite stiff on certain sections of road. Still, the difference between it and most 3.5-tonne turbodiesel utes is night and day.
Thirdly, the Shark is HEFTY. No, seriously. Its kerb weight is just over 2.7 tonnes, which is around 500Kg heavier than a Toyota Hilux SR5 Cruiser, or the weight of about one entire cow. However, it’s not so surprising when you consider that the Shark is carrying more running gear than both a Volkswagen Golf and a Nissan Leaf combined.
The weight isn’t an issue most of the time, but you’ll notice it if you’re slightly overzealous about throwing the BYD into a corner. An Apex predator, it is not.
Still, the Shark powertrain and chassis are quite impressive. It’s smooth, quick and vastly more comfortable than its peers. So, why hasn’t the competition twigged on the same idea? Well, there are some compromises the Shark has made with its design, some of which could make the Shark unsuitable to some ute buyers.
Earlier, I said the BYD Shark is “the least ute-like of any ute”. This phrase is also true in terms of towing and payload. The Shark has a tow rating of 750Kg unbraked, and 2,500Kg braked, which is one tonne less than most of the competition.
Although, it should be mentioned that this tow rating is the same as a Ford Ranger Raptor, but that’s also a niche ute. Its payload is also 790Kg, which is roughly 200Kg down on most competitors, but around the same as the GWM Cannon Alpha and Jeep Gladiator.
There are also some questions about the Shark’s off-roading capability. Although we didn’t test it ourselves, there is some evidence emerging (particularly from CarExpert in Australia), that the Shark isn’t as capable off-road as other utes.
Our test also revealed a few more potential deficiencies, the most surprising of which was fuel economy. After deliberately draining the battery down to 25%, we left it there for a while to determine overall fuel economy, if for example, you couldn’t plug in for a while. From this, we achieved a fuel economy result of 11.6L per 100kms, well above BYD’s claimed 7.6L per 100kms for under 25% battery.
This means you’ll need to keep the BYD charged up, if you want to get anything like BYD claimed combined efficiency of 2.0L per 100kms.
While the Shark is quick, I cannot say its performance delivery is particularly exciting. Basically, it feels like an EV, and EVs are largely devoid of any powertrain character. For this reason, it lacks the pantomime and character which one gets from the Ranger Raptor with its turbocharged V6.
It also meant I didn’t have much of an incentive to really push the BYD, which could be an advantage if you’re interested in holding onto your driver’s licence.
Similar to other BYDs we’ve tested, some of the driver assistance systems still require fine-tuning. Although, the Shark does get some points for having lane keep assistance, where many other utes do not.
However, it’s not the most developed system I’ve encountered. Strangely, I didn’t notice an alert come up for when you had your hands off the wheel for an extended period. I’m unsure whether this is by design, but it’s the only vehicle I can recall testing without this alert.
The driver attention monitor was also quite finicky, but I don’t often encounter one that isn’t.
2025 BYD Shark 6 – Specifications
| Vehicle Type | 4-door dual-cab ute |
| Starting Price | $68,990 |
| Price as Tested | $68,990 |
| Engine | 1.5-litre 4-cylinder turbo petrol engine with dual permanent magnet synchronous motors |
| Battery Capacity (kW) | 29.58 |
| Power, Torque (kW/Nm) | 321/650 (Combined) 170/310 (Front motor) 150/340 (Rear motor) 135/260 (Petrol engine) |
| Transmission | n/a |
| Spare Wheel | Full size |
| Kerb Weight (Kg) | 2,710 |
| Length x Width x Height (mm) | 5457 x 1971 x 1925 |
| Tray Payload (Kg) | 790 |
| Fuel tank capacity (litres) | 60 |
| Fuel Economy (L/100km) | Advertised Spec – Combined – 2.0 Real-World Test – Combined – 11.6 Low Usage: 0-6 / Medium Usage 6-12 / High Usage 12+ |
| Towing capacity (Kg, unbraked/braked) | 750/2,500 |
| Turning circle (metres) | 13.5 Small: 6-10m / Medium 10-12m / Large 12m+ |
| Warranty | 6-year/150,000-km new vehicle warranty 8-year/160,000-km battery warranty (>70% SOH) 8-year roadside assistance |
| Safety information | ANCAP Rating – 5 stars Rightcar.govt.nz – 5 Stars – SHRK06 |
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