Chinese e-car giant BYD is storming the Western market with new factories

Chinese e-car manufacturer BYD is considering building a second and third factory in Europe. BYD CEO Stella Li said this in Shenzhen to several European media, including De Tijd.

‘We are announcing the construction of three to four additional factories before the end of this year. Normally one will be in Mexico and the other three in other regions. Perhaps the one factory we now have in Europe is not enough.’ This was reported by Stella Li, the vice chairman of BYD, China’s largest car manufacturer. She is the number two of the Shenzhen company, after founder and managing director Wang Chuanfu.

Although Li does not want to say it in so many words, BYD is thus arming itself against the threatened significant increase in import tariffs on Chinese cars. According to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, “the world is being flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars, the price of which is kept artificially low by huge state subsidies.”

Last year, the brand was unable to sell even 600 cars in our country. But since the number of dealers was expanded at the end of last year, sales have been steadily increasing. After the first three months of this year, the counter stood at 423 copies.

According to the spokesperson for BYD importer Inchcape, Thomas de Meuter, the brand has already booked ‘more than 1,000’ orders in our country this year. By the end of this year, the counter should reach ‘2,000 to 3,000 units’, reaching 10,000 units per year by 2027 – as much as Mazda, Nissan and Mini, for example, sold in Belgium last year.

The brand also benefits from the Flemish subsidy of up to 5,000 euros on the purchase of an electric car with a list price of up to 40,000 euros. Half of the electric cars that BYD sells in our country are eligible for this premium.

Like many Chinese car makers, BYD has been focusing on the export of its cars for several years. In China, competition between local brands has grown enormously, while a lot of production capacity has been added.

Both the United States and Europe are bracing for an invasion of Chinese cars. The European Commission suspects Beijing of massively subsidizing its local car makers and has opened an investigation. This could lead to a significant increase in the 10 percent import tariff on Chinese cars this fall.

The US already imposes a tariff of 27.5 percent and there are even calls to increase that to 125 percent. This means a de facto ban on sales of Chinese cars in the US. It is therefore one of the few countries where BYD does not yet sell its cars.

German premium brands such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, which fear that China will increase its import duties on European cars in retaliation, are opposing possible European sanctions.

Yet Chinese manufacturers are anticipating such measures by opening European factories. At the end of last year, BYD announced that it will build its first factory in the EU in Szeged, Hungary, where it will eventually produce 300,000 cars per year.

Chery, which sells cars in our country under the Omoda brand, will also produce in Europe. To this end, it bought an old Nissan factory in Barcelona last week, where it wants to make at least 150,000 electric cars annually from 2029.

In addition to a new factory, Li also wants to open a development and design center in Europe. ‘BYD is a global company, and that means more than just selling cars worldwide. It also means investing locally in production, research and development.’ It is not yet clear where BYD wants to build its design center and possible second factory.

Li has been in charge of BYD’s European division since this month. Her predecessor promised last year that the Chinese brand wants to sell at least 10 percent of all battery cars in Europe by 2030, or more than 1 million cars per year. Li goes one step further. ‘It will go much faster under me. I don’t know why we have to wait until 2030.’

In recent years, BYD has grown into one of the largest industrial conglomerates in China. In addition to cars, the company, founded in 1995, also makes batteries, buses and is a supplier to the electronics industry.