2025 Byd Shark - design review
Moving up the automotive food chain is never an easy thing to do, but if you are like VW or Toyota, you know its possible, and now it seems that BYD wants to do this as well. Even without a major presence in North America, BYD still has plans to become one of the worlds largest automakers and to do this you need a pickup truck. And if you know the Chinese market, you know that people are starting to move up into trucks and utility vehicles, as the consumer market wants to explore the back woods. So naturally a truck was something that BYD had to do. But did they do it right. Let’s see. Similar to the biggest players in the market, big is the focus up front as the logo, headlights and skid plate are some of the largest features here. You really can’t look at the front without seeing who makes it, as BYD has prominently displayed their name proudly across the front grille. But without a large chrome surface surrounding it, this is feature is all lost in a sea of body colour, where it should stand proud in the centre of either a black or chrome grille. This could be where the aftermarket industry needs to step in a fix this issue. Finding your way will never be an issue when your lights are on, as both the main headlight fixture and band running light are large enough to light up the world. Although they do have a simple design which plays off of the F-150’s lights, they do blend well with their surroundings. But all is lost when you need help in the fog, as those lights are tucked away inside the bumper cladding. Hidden from your main sightline, the fog lights are all too small to make any difference in the fog. Extending them the entire space as the accent which surrounds the light fixture, would make this space run inline with the upper lights and give you enough light to see your way through the fog. BYD has hidden their main bumper fixture behind a sea of aluminum. But this aluminum feature has a point when it comes to protection. Skid plates make all the difference when your off roading, and the Shark makes good use of this feature. It may be on the larger side, but it does keep the size of the bumper down, reducing the amount of flat plastic which resides on the front end.  Clean simple lines are what BYD is all about and the Shark is nothing out of the ordinary. Low sightline character lines give us the appeal of broad shoulders, without having them overshadow the appeal of the side profile. We all want to see a truck with a bit of power appeal behind it and it seems that BYD has succeeded here with their low sight character lines. As with the shoulder line, the window lines appear to blend from front to rear as well. With accents and base lines giving us the appeal of a wrap around window. This is not true, but the colouring does trick your eyes into believing its true. Adding a floating roofline to a truck is not new, but BYD does it well. BYD did a great choice on their rim design and colours, choosing both a design which will be easy to clean and one which does not play too hard on the low scratch resistance steel surface. A touch of dark grey helps to break up what could have been a sea of steel and it adds a bit of sport appeal to this mid-size truck. Well, done BYD. Added to the great rim design, BYD added on a few extras we all need as well and with the aftermarket industry non-existent in their home market, these products have to be added at the factory. Roof rails and a rear light bar add on to what was already great about this truck. And being able to add on some bush lights or put your kayak on top, really helps with our adventure side of life.  As the side may be the party place where BYD did almost everything right, the rear is where things start to sour. Attempting to emulate the large wrap around lights from the front, the rear tail lights have nothing to offer us, but heartache. An all too dark accent trim, improperly laid out character insets and an all too simple layout makes these the most basic lights we’ve seen on a truck. And most trucks have pretty basic lights. Similar to the front, BYD again made us all aware of who makes this truck, as they have stamped their name into the tailgate. This is a trend which was big for a long time, but disappear in the 2000’s. We are glad everyone has decided to bring this feature back and it seems BYD learned from the best, as their size and placement is spot on. Now if you can do away with the lower Ford tailgate inset, and we will start to see this as a BYD truck, not a Ranger wannabe. One great thing that BYD did do back here was perfectly blend in the rear bumper. With a lack of space between the bumper and rear of the truck the bumper really seems to move with the design. This is something we love about this truck, as most companies just slap a bumper on and call it a day. We only ask if you could add some steps so we can get into the box easier. Thank you.  BYD has come a long way in the past twenty years and it seems that there is slowing them down. Surpassing Tesla in EV sales just shows you how strong this company is and where they are planning to go in the future. And now with the addition of a pickup truck, BYD has nearly completed their product lineup. Overall, the Shark is a decent truck which will make its presence heard. Although it borrows heavily from the Ford stable in a few key aspects, it still has looks to take on the marketplace and win. With a profile which may give it an image of something different, in truth the overall appeal of this truck is similar to its competitors. An image which says I’m a truck from far away, but doesn’t give us much more compared to the rest of the field. This may be a Shark which will hang out with the gang, as its design is not strong enough to bite through the marketplace. Everett J. #autolooks COMPETITION: Maxus T90 - 54.26% Toyota Hilux - 56.29% Ford Ranger - 50.73% Dongfeng Zhengzhou 7 - 51.74%
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