BYD SHARK Pickup Launches in the UK From £47,290 With 55 Miles of Electric Range

BYD has priced its first pickup truck for UK buyers. The SHARK goes on sale from £47,290 including VAT, with orders open now and deliveries due in the final quarter of 2026. It joins a double-cab market long dominated by diesel trucks like the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux, but under the bonnet it swaps a diesel engine for a plug-in hybrid system that can cover up to 55.9 miles on electric power alone.

The SHARK is a 5.5-metre, five-seat double cab built on a ladder chassis, so it keeps the towing and payload numbers buyers expect from a working pickup: 2,500kg braked towing capacity, 790kg payload and a 1,200-litre load bed. What sets it apart from rivals is the plug-in hybrid powertrain underneath, which BYD calls Super Hybrid DMO (Dual Mode Off-road), and a combined output of 436PS that gets the truck from 0-62mph in 5.7 seconds.

How the Super Hybrid Powertrain Works

The SHARK pairs a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine with two electric motors, one on each axle, delivering all-wheel drive without a mechanical link between front and rear. The front motor produces 231PS, the rear 204PS, and together with the petrol engine they combine for 436PS and 650Nm of torque.

A 32.2kWh Blade Battery sits at the centre of the system, comfortably the largest fitted to any pickup on sale in Europe and, according to BYD, almost three times the size of the battery in the only other plug-in hybrid pickup on the market. That battery is good for 55.9 miles of pure electric range on its own. Run the petrol engine and electric motors together and the SHARK will travel 419 miles on a full tank and a full charge, with a WLTP weighted fuel figure of 80.7mpg. Even with the battery flat, BYD quotes 29.4mpg from the petrol engine alone, a number few diesel pickups can match.

A home wallbox handles most charging needs: a three-phase 11kW AC charger takes the battery from 15% to full in just over three hours. Public DC rapid chargers will take the battery from 30% to 80% in 21 minutes.

Pricing and Standard Equipment

The SHARK is sold in a single, well-equipped trim rather than a ladder of options. At £47,290, every SHARK comes with vegan-leather seats that are heated and ventilated, a 12-speaker Dynaudio sound system, a 10.25-inch digital instrument panel with a head-up display, and a 15.6-inch touchscreen that BYD says is the largest fitted to any pickup. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 50W wireless phone charger, keyless entry and a 360-degree parking camera are all standard.

The SHARK’s closest UK rival on paper is the Ford Ranger Plug-in Hybrid, which starts from around £40,800 including VAT for the entry-level XLT trim and pairs a smaller 11.8kWh battery with a 26-mile electric range and 279PS combined output. At £47,290, the SHARK sits closer to Ranger PHEV’s better-equipped Wildtrak trim, which costs around £46,200, but it more than doubles that car’s electric-only range and adds 157PS. Buyers cross-shopping diesel and hybrid trucks now have a fully-loaded, battery-assisted alternative that can handle short commutes on electricity alone while still covering long trips without needing to plan around a charger.

Design and Cabin Space

BYD has styled the SHARK around a shark motif, most visible at the front end, where the headlights sit high at the edges of the bonnet and pull apart to either side of a single full-width light bar. The grille and lower bumper are shaped to echo an open mouth, and at the rear a full-width light bar runs across the tailgate with the largest BYD badge fitted to any of its passenger vehicles.

Inside, the cabin breaks from typical pickup layouts. A column-mounted gear shifter frees up space on the centre console, and large, glove-friendly buttons sit alongside the twin-screen dashboard. Rear passengers get a flat floor and close to 90cm of legroom, with a 27-degree seat-back angle that puts the rear bench closer to what buyers would find in a large seven-seat SUV than a traditional truck. Front occupants get grab handles built into the dashboard, aimed at drivers tackling rougher ground.

Off-Road Ability and Vehicle-to-Load Power

The all-wheel-drive system includes four terrain modes for sand, mud, snow and gravel, along with Hill Descent Control as standard. Double-wishbone suspension at both ends aims to balance comfort on the road with capability off it, and the ladder chassis, built from more than 50% high-strength steel, is designed to protect the battery pack in rougher conditions.

One feature that sets the SHARK apart from traditional pickups is Vehicle-to-Load, which lets owners draw up to 6.6kW of power from the truck through two onboard sockets. That is enough to run power tools on a job site or plug in equipment away from home, without needing a separate generator. The system can be accessed either through the car’s charging port or a dedicated socket built into the load bed wall.

Safety Equipment

Every SHARK comes with adaptive cruise control, front and rear cross-traffic alert with automatic braking, forward and rear collision warning, lane departure assistance with emergency lane keeping, blind spot detection and hill hold control. Seven airbags are fitted, including front-centre and side-curtain airbags, alongside ISOFIX mounting points, child presence detection and a tyre pressure monitoring system as standard.

The SHARK is available in five exterior colours, with a choice of 18-inch two-tone or all-black alloy wheels. BYD’s existing UK dealer network will handle sales and servicing alongside its SUV and hatchback range.

Plug-in hybrid pickups remain a small part of the UK market today, but the segment is expanding as buyers who need towing and payload capacity look for ways to cut fuel costs on daily runs. The SHARK is BYD’s first entry into that market and its first pickup anywhere, following the brand’s rapid expansion across UK SUVs, hatchbacks and saloons over the past two years.

For buyers who need a working pickup but want to cut fuel bills on the daily commute, the SHARK is the first vehicle in its class to offer a genuine electric-only range alongside diesel-rivalling towing and payload figures. Whether that combination pulls buyers away from long-established diesel trucks will become clear once deliveries begin at the end of the year.