BYD NZ eyes super-fast Atto 3 AWD, but there's also a brand new model for next year

David Linklater

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Top AWD version of Atto 3 Evo can hit 100km/h in 3.9 seconds.

Top AWD version of Atto 3 Evo can hit 100km/h in 3.9 seconds.

  • Current Atto 3 on 'final call' runout for NZ.
  • New Evo AWD model can hit 100km/h in 3.9 seconds.
  • Yet another new Atto 3 already launched in China.

There seems to be a orderly queue of new BYD Atto 3 models forming for the New Zealand market.

BYD Atto 3 Evo.
Not too much change on the outside, but new tech underneath for Evo.

The brand is farewelling the current model (launched in 2022) with a run of 600 cars built in Thailand - half already sold, another 300 still available. Billed as the "final call", the Thai-made cars are identical to the previous Chinese-made Kiwi-spec models, apart from a new colour (Atlantis Grey) and a $6k price drop to $49,990.

Atto 3 is BYD NZ's most successful model. Launched at the height of the Clean Car Discount, it's the brand's most successful model, with more than 7000 on Kiwi roads.

So what happens next? There are a couple of options the company is considering. The first would be fairly short-term, but tempting all the same: the updated model already launched in the UK and Europe called Atto 3 Evo.

BYD Atto 3 Evo.
Evo interior has smae architecture, but less of the gym theme and muscle-inspired texture.

Already confirmed for Australia (which has a different BYD distributorship to NZ), the Evo looks the same on top but is new underneath, with a larger 74.8kWh battery, upgraded electronic architecture and a switch from front-drive to rear-drive.

The single electric motor is now 230kW/380Nm (current model 150kW/310Nm), with a 0-100km/h time of 5.5 seconds and a WLTP range of 508km. It can charge at up to 220kW.

BYD Atto 3.
All-new Atto 3 is larger and could be available for NZ in the first half of 2027.

But also new for this model is an AWD powertrain option, which boosts outputs to 330kW/560Nm. The AWD hits 100km/h in a very rapid 3.9 seconds.

That's one BYD NZ general manager Warren Willmot is very keen to have here. It's not going into Australia, but he reckons it would appeal to Kiwi buyers.

"We'll see how stocks go with the current model," says Willmot. "We wouldn't release anything until we've run out of this [current] one. But we'd push for the AWD model."

Whether the Evo is launched in NZ at all is another question. A brand-new Atto 3 was recently revealed in China, and Willmot says that's probably available for NZ in the second quarter of 2027: "It depends whether we want have a vehicle in the market for a very short time [the Evo], and then move to an all-new model."

The new Atto 3 has cleaner styling than the current model and has grown in size quite substantially: it's 210mm longer and the wheelbase is extended by 50mm.