A Chinese electric car is coming soon at a discounted price: BYD will challenge the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger with a "practical, attractive and spacious double cab vehicle."

By 2023, BYD will launch an all-electric answer to the Toyota HiLux. (Image credit: art station)

Chinese automaker BYD could win the race for Australia's first all-electric double-cab vehicle, and the powerful EV truck will compete against the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger launching Down Under in 2023.

The brand, through its Australian partner Nexport, has outlined a bold vision for this market, with BYD targeting the top five in that country.

And critical to these plans is ute (represented by the artist above) allowing the brand to carve out its own slice of our gigantic and competitive double cab market.

“We believe that six models will be released in the next two and a half years, so there is no reason why we cannot be in the top five auto retailers,” says Nexport CEO Luke Todd. "And that includes the fact that we'll have a pickup truck during that time frame."

“It is in development and will be here in 2023. It's 100% electric and has everything you want."

BYD's story begins in Australia later this year when the brand launches the new Yuan Plus SUV in Australia, a small-to-midsize SUV that sits somewhere between the Kia Seltos and the Mazda CX-5.

It will be followed in mid-2022 by a larger vehicle believed to be the successor to the current Chinese market Han, as well as the next generation EA1, known domestically as the Dolphin, which is about the size of a Toyota Corolla. a city car that will travel 450 km across Australia.

But most of all, Australians will be delighted to see the as-yet-unnamed ute, which Mr Todd promises will deliver "anything you want" including a minimum range of 450km.

"It's not as wild as the Tesla Cybertruck," he says. In fact, it will be a very desirable, practical and very spacious pickup truck with a double cab.

“It's hard to decide if we want to call it a ute or a pickup. Clearly, models like the Rivian R1T are pickups, and more in that vein than the classic Holden or Ford.

"It's more like a luxury car that also has more cargo capacity in the back."

There was talk that the pickup would even be built in New South Wales, but that seems to have cooled off and the pickup is now expected to come from China.

“We know that so many people are interested and so many people want to switch (to an electric vehicle),” says Todd.