“The great thing about Australia is we don’t have tariffs, and we have a significant number of new products coming,” Smitherman said. “Our goal is to have a product in every segment in Australia.”
The growing availability of BYD models in the Australian market, including some that retail for less than $40,000, has forced other major brands, including Tesla, to cut their prices, too.
Trump has vowed to impose heavy tariffs on Chinese companies.Credit: AP
Prateek Biswas, a transport and materials analyst at consultancy Wood Mackenzie, said Trump’s plan to maintain or increase the Biden administration’s 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles would prevent Chinese manufacturers from pursuing crucial plans to grow their presence in the US.
“The next question is really ‘where do they expand?’” Biswas said. “They will be looking at relatively lucrative markets, and there aren’t that many of them – but Australia is definitely one of them.”
Electric Vehicle Council head of legal, policy and advocacy Aman Gaur said Australian consumers could benefit if the US proceeded with its plan to restrict electric vehicle imports.
“If the US restricts imports, I think we can expect to see increased supply to Australia and quality electric vehicles in our market under $30,000,” he said.
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The Albanese government’s incoming vehicle fuel pollution limits, which take effect from next year and bring Australia into line with almost every other developed country, are also expected to give motorists greater choice of low- and zero-emissions models, the industry group said.
The limits will apply only to new cars and are designed to reduce emissions by 60 per cent by 2030 by encouraging manufacturers to import either more efficient combustion-engine cars or more electric vehicles, with penalties for those that breach their cap.
After years of sluggish growth, sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids account for nearly 10 per cent of Australia’s new car market. But adoption of fully battery-electric vehicles has started to slow this year in line with global trends, which analysts attribute to the impact of inflation and worsening cost-of-living pressures. Sales of hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles, which are typically cheaper than fully electric models, have increased.
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