BYD's Reasons for Not Selling Hybrid Cars Yet, Despite Incentives

KatadataOTO – BYD (Build Your Dreams), one of the leading environmentally friendly vehicle manufacturers, actually not only sells electric cars in the global market, but also hybrids.

For example, the BYD Shark pickup which uses PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle) technology. This model has also apparently been registered in Indonesia by BYD.

In Indonesia, the government provides support to accelerate the adoption of environmentally friendly vehicles. This comes in the form of incentives for electric and hybrid cars.

Even so, BYD seems still reluctant to bring hybrid cars to the Indonesian market, despite the incentives provided by the government.

Photo : KatadataOTO

“In terms of its ability to adopt or present mobility technology, BYD has reached the highest level, which is EV (Electric Vehicle),” said Luther Panjaitan, Head of PR & Government Relations at PT BYD Motor Indonesia at JIExpo Kemayoran, some time ago.

This then underlies BYD's decision to focus on selling pure electric cars or BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) domestically. 

“We see that EVs are the main priority for now, while we study their fairly good reception,” said Luther.

He further emphasized that BYD is an important player in the PHEV segment. So the presence of their hybrid cars in the country is only a matter of time.

According to him, there are a number of things that need to be considered so that hybrid car incentives can be used effectively and provide benefits to consumers.

“If we can bring an affordable PHEV product, it will definitely be more effective,” he stressed.

For your information, BYD has registered the names of two of their hybrid cars as revealed from data on the official PDKI (Directorate General of Intellectual Property) website.

Photo : BYD NZ

Not only the BYD Song-L DM-i, but what's interesting is the BYD Shark. So far, no manufacturer in Indonesia sells a double cabin car equipped with PHEV technology.

In the Southeast Asian market, the BYD Shark debuted in Cambodia towards the end of October 2024. Following that, the Shark also hit the roads in Australia.

Regarding specifications, the BYD Shark uses a 1,500 cc Turbo engine combined with a 29.58 kWh BYD Blade Battery. With a full battery and gas tank, its range is claimed to be 800 km.