8 hours ago
11
BYD has received the green light to sell a plug-in hybrid competitor to Australia's favourite people mover, and it's slated for showrooms by year's end.
The BYD M9 people mover is poised to reach Australian showrooms by the end of this year as a plug-in hybrid competitor to the Kia Carnival.
The Chinese car giant has expanded its line-up from four models to 11 in two years – across SUVs, utes, hatchbacks, sedans and even wagons – as part of ambitions to climb the sales charts in Australia.
It is not done, and has set its sights on another slice of the market: family people movers.
BYD has received government approval to launch the M9, a 5.1-metre-long people mover with seven seats – rather than the Carnival's eight – and a choice of two performance levels.
It is yet to formally lock in the vehicle for sale, but the approval documents, combined with examples seen on Australian roads in recent months – including by Drive in Sydney – all but confirm its arrival.
Prices are yet to be announced, but it is likely to draw close to, or undercut a Kia Carnival, which is priced from $56,100 to $76,630 plus on-road costs in 'plug-less' hybrid guise.
BYD Australia chief operating officer Stephen Collins indirectly identified the Carnival – the country’s top-selling people mover, accounting for three in four deliveries in the category – as the main target.
“We've certainly filled out the line-up, as you know, in the last six months. But we still think there's more opportunity,” he said.
“We think the people mover segment is another opportunity for us. It's a relatively small [segment], but [there’s] one dominant player, relatively stable. That’s something we're looking at in the second half [of 2026].”
The M9 is a plug-in hybrid, which has been approved for sale locally with a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, an electric motor and power outputs of 191kW and 218kW.
In overseas markets, the M9 is rated at 200kW/315Nm, and offers 20.4kWh or 36.6kWh battery packs for claimed electric driving ranges in NEDC lab testing of 95km and 170km, respectively, rising to 945km and 1000km in hybrid mode.
Standard fit with seven seats, the M9 is larger than a Carnival, and wears more traditional ‘MPV’ styling than the SUV-inspired Kia.
It is yet to be confirmed if the vehicle will retain the M9 name in Australia, but the presence of the branding in the homologation documents suggest it will be chosen over a word-based badge akin to Atto 1, Sealion 8 or Shark 6.
Offering plug-in hybrid power – and a new name – would contrast the M9 from luxury offshoot Denza’s upcoming D9, a more opulent electric people mover priced from $85,990 to $95,990 plus on-road costs.
Fellow Chinese brand GAC has launched Australia’s other plug-in hybrid people mover, currently known as the M8.
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
