BYD believes its new Seal “has a lot of potential” as the Chinese new energy vehicle brand seeks to boost its fleet sales, according to local executives.

While the new BYD Seal 6 plug-in hybrid sedan and wagon is primarily aimed at consumer buyers, chief product officer for Australia and New Zealand Sajid Hasan says its attributes that appeal to these customers will also make it competitive in the fleet space.

Sajid Hasan

“I think the interesting thing about this model and this segment is that it actually does attract a bit of a mix between fleet and private. Just given our overall sales kind of slant, we tend to do a much stronger private result across all of our models and we probably expect that to be the same with Seal 6 as well,” he told GoAutoNews Premium at the Seal 6’s Australian launch.

“But we believe we’ve fulfilled all the requirements as well to have this vehicle appeal to a fleet customer in that it has a five star ANCAP rating, it has very low running costs and low all-of-life costs which are the kind of things that fleets are looking for.”

“But then, from a private customer perspective, it has an emotional design, high luxury features, and high levels of refinement that we think will appeal to families and private customs as well. 

“Basically, if you can make the vehicle appealing to private customers and you tick the other boxes that fleets look for, then you’re going to be able to appeal to private customers.”

“At the end of the day, fleet customers have to turn their vehicles over to the used vehicle market and the strength of the residual values are reliant on how desirable that car is to the second hand private car market. So it’s still important to always make our vehicles appealing to the private customer, regardless of whether it’s a fleet focused model or not.”

Seal 6 touring

Mr Hasan predicts an 80/20 sales split between private and fleet buyers for the Seal 6 with the wagon-bodied Touring model being the volume leader.

“In terms of the mix between private and fleet (sales), (we will) probably see something like 80 per cent private, 20 per cent fleet. (That’s) just kind of somewhat in line with the rest of our mix, and we’d probably see the majority of that demand go for the wagon rather than the sedan just because of the added practicality,” he said.

Mr Hasan also revealed to GoAutoNews Premium that he expects around 300 to 400 Seal 6 sales in Australia per month. If 20 per cent of those sales are predicted to be fleet buyers, between 60 and 80 Seal 6s can be expected to reach fleet customers per month. 

The Seal 6 forms just one part of BYD’s growth in the fleet space. Since dropping EVDirect as its local distributor, within the last year BYD has made efforts to expand its fleet focus, and is aiming for 35 per cent of its local sales to be fleet customers according to its Australian director of public relations Paul Ellis.

Paul Ellis

“Last year, we acknowledged that fleet is the big opportunity for BYD. Absolutely the big opportunity. Last year our total sales was around ten percent fleet. And the industry average is about thirty-five percent. We can’t see why we can’t be at around thirty-five percent,” Mr Ellis said.

“Up until (around one year) ago (BYD in Australia) was being run by EVDirect. So in one year what we’ve achieved (is that) we’ve built a business, we’ve built a robust national sales and marketing company. And building that means building all the departments that you need within that actually help deliver the business outputs. So fleet is one of those.” 

“We  now have a fleet team. We now have fleet specialists working for us inside the business. We have specialists working with our dealers with fleet. We’re doing better fleet marketing.”

Like Mr Hasan, Mr Ellis also recognises the Seal 6’s potential in the fleet space, but points to the sedan as the most promising prospect between the two body styles. 

“The Seal 6 has a lot of potential for fleet, especially with the sedan, because it’s five-star ANCAP, it’s efficient, the resale values will be good, and the running costs are going to be quite low.”

Seal 6 sedan

“So that’s going to be a really important car for us, the Seal 6 sedan, in trying to boost our fleet penetration. But we’ll get there, and there’s no reason in the fullness of time why we can’t be sitting around 35 per cent. But at the moment, last year it was 10 per cent, we’re probably around 15 per cent now, but massive opportunity for us.”

While the Seal 6 has evident significance for BYD’s fleet growth, the Shark 6 plug-in hybrid ute is expected to be the fleet sales leader for the brand according to Mr Ellis. 

Shark 6

“Shark 6 (will lead fleet sales) because that’s where the demand is,” he said. “You’ve got to address (market) needs, and there (are) needs for those types of vehicles, cab chassis vehicles for fleet.”

The Shark 6 has quickly established itself as one of BYD’s most popular models. With 18,073 examples sold in 2025, it was the brand’s best-selling model locally and the 18th best-selling model overall last year.

Meanwhile, the BYD Seal – the Seal 6’s battery electric equivalent – found 3784 Australian buyers last year.