EV Direct, the Australian distributor of the battery electric vehicle (BEV) built by the Chinese company BYD, has been somewhat derelict in its duty of keeping customers/potential customers up to date with information that is really important to  them, ie the delivery status of their recent BEV order. The email that was received by members of the mailing list on July 1 2022 was a very good example of what, in my opinion, not to do in order to keep their customers on side..

Those who put an early order in for the BYD Atto 3 were promised delivery on or about July/August.  June came and went with no information regarding the demo vehicles which were promised for test drives. And so did the first day of July, well almost.

After COB on Friday July 1, an email headed:

Enhanced national retail model – the first of its kind in the EV sector.  

appeared in our in boxes.

While the information that headed that email was probably exciting for EV Direct, I am sure it was not so for most of those receiving the email, especially those with a BEV on order.  It made little difference to me whether I picked by car up the mycar at Stafford as originally advised or from Eagers somewhere in Indooroopilly.  We still have to drive four hours to Brisbane and as Stafford is on the north side of the Brisbane River, it is probably another thirty minutes to the other side of Brisbane to find Indooroopilly.

The email went on to explain how exciting the new arrangements were the business.

• This means BYD will be the first and only new energy automotive brand to launch in Australia with a nationwide presence in selected strategic markets and a best-in-class logistics, servicing and vehicle preparation network to support our customers. 
• The new multi-format retail network will deliver major benefits for our customers including a further enhanced digital sales experience (both online and in-store) as well as a more personalised vehicle handover and a comprehensive after-sales support service spanning a national network of parts and service locations.

Not much in that lot for the customers either. But what came next was what most customers did not want to see

When can I get behind the wheel of my ATTO 3?

• Thank you to those customers who have been amongst the first to lock in your BYD ATTO 3 by placing early orders.
  
• It is well publicised that the global automotive industry as a whole is under pressure from a range of supply chain issues and logistics disruptions. While BYD’s model provides robust protection from many of these challenges, regrettably we have been impacted by the current holistic industry conditions. Despite our best efforts to minimise the impact on our customers, test drives and initial deliveries will be pushed back by approximately 6 to 8 weeks. 
  
• While we apologise to customers for this date alteration, we are delighted to confirm that production of Australian BYD ATTO 3’s has commenced and we have secured increased dedicated production capacity to enable a steady supply of vehicles into the Australian market commencing from August 2022.  

So looks like we will have to wait until September at the earliest to take delivery of our first electric car.  The delay causes all sorts of problems for customers.  We have to sell our current vehicle and it would have been comforting to have some definite dates.  Other customers have negotiated financing arrangements which will have to be re-negotiated, sometimes with higher interest rates as a result.

It is reasonable to suggest that the customers are not the only ones disappointed by the six to eight weeks delay.  I am sure that EV Direct would love to have some funds flowing through their books as well.  But one has to wonder how come New Zealand importers were able to get their vehicles apparently on time, and the Australian distributor was not.