General News
2 September, 2026
New energy on the rise
A NEW car brand has been made available on the Tablelands, with the Mete Motor Group ready to launch its new BYD dealership in Mareeba this month.
Founded in 1994, BYD – ‘Build Your Dreams’ – is a global high-tech company based in China. Its Auto department was established and began manufacturing cars in 2003, before switching its focus entirely to new energy vehicles (hybrid and electric) in 2022.
Dealership director David Mete said he’d been in discussions with the company for a year-and-a -half now, revealing that almost one in four Australians were turning to new energy vehicles.
“The market’s changed quite substantially. Preference towards new energy vehicles have risen to the point where, in June/July, nearly 25% of the market were buying pure electric cars,” he said.
“This isn’t something that happens overnight either – we’ve been in discussion with BYD for 18 months. So it’s one of those things where we had to be ready and they had to be ready. It’s quite a lengthy process but the timing’s been great.”
Mr Mete said he’d been open to adding a new brand for a while, and BYD simply appealed to him the most.
“We’ve looked at other brands, we’ve been offered other brands, but in the end we went with BYD,” he said.
“Their growth worldwide is huge – they’re one of the fastest growing automotive brands in the world, with aspirations to keep growing.
“What I do like about them is that they build up to 75% of the car themselves, whereas other car brands, it could be only 40%-50%.
“BYD builds their own batteries, computer chips, semiconductors, and that’s on top of all the other panels and components of a car – it’s what they call a fully integrated model.”
He said he had faith in the uptake for new energy vehicles in regional areas, with success already seen in Mackay, Tonwsville, and Cairns.
“Now they’re looking to grow into more regional areas and the locations they’ve already gone into are going strong, so that gave us the extra confidence to move forward.”
For years Australians were cautious about Chinese-manufactured vehicles, but government-backed industry standards had significantly improved outcome quality.
“To be fair, probably 20 years ago, some of the Chinese cars were pretty ordinary and quite cheaply made,” Mr Mete said.
“But as China’s automotive industry grew and began competing on a global scale, brands like BYD recognised they needed to overcome that perception. They invested heavily in technology, engineering, quality control, and manufacturing standards to ensure their vehicles could compete with the best brands in the world.
“The Chinese automotive industry has come an incredibly long way, and the quality, technology, and value we’re seeing in vehicles like BYD today is a long way removed from what people may remember from 20 years ago.”
The three “big ticks” Mr Mete has noticed as to what makes the brand attractive were: “the cars look and drive great, are very well equipped, and are offered at a very competitive price”.
The addition of the new brand allows the Mete Motor Group to expand its offerings alongside the existing Mazda and Mitsubishi brands, which rest assured “aren’t going anywhere”.
The BYD dealership is currently in a pre-operational phase, with an official launch set for this month. A new showroom will be built adjacent to the current Mazda showroom as part of the expansion.
