BYD plans to have the Hungarian plant, which will produce passenger car models for sale in Europe, up and running within three years.
(Image credit: BYD)
BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDF) has signed a major agreement in Hungary to build its NEV (NEV) plant in the European country.
BYD signed a preliminary land purchase agreement with the government of the city of Szeged for its passenger car plant in Hungary on January 30, according to a statement by the Chinese NEV maker today.
This is BYD's first European passenger NEV plant and one of the largest and most important investment projects in Hungary's history, said Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó.
The Hungarian government will provide support for the project and push for the early commissioning of the plant, he said.
BYD announced on December 22 that it will build a passenger NEV production base in the city of Szeged, becoming the first Chinese automaker to build a passenger car plant in the European Union.
The plant, which will be up and running in three years, will mainly produce passenger car models for sale in Europe, BYD said today.
BYD is no stranger to the Hungarian market, having built its first all-electric bus plant in Europe there seven years ago.
BYD will deepen cooperation on localized projects in Hungary to jointly promote the green transformation of the European automotive industry, it said.
BYD is China's largest NEV maker, selling a record 341,043 NEVs in December, putting full-year 2023 sales at 3,024,417 units.
The company sold 36,095 NEVs overseas in December, giving it overseas NEV sales of 242,765 units in 2023, an increase of about five times from 2022, according to data compiled by CnEVPost.
The company is expanding into overseas markets and in March 2023 began construction of a passenger car plant in Thailand. The plant is expected to start production in 2024 with an annual capacity of about 150,000 vehicles.
In May 2023, BYD started construction on a plant in Uzbekistan, which went into production earlier this month.
Last July, BYD said it would set up a large production base complex in Brazil, including a production plant that focuses on electric buses and truck chassis, a passenger NEV plant, and a processing plant specializing in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery materials.
The Brazilian industrial complex is scheduled to go into operation in the second half of 2024, with a planned annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles for the NEV production line.
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