BYD Hungary plant to start production in late 2026, executive says

By Nick Carey

LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - BYD will start assembling cars at its new plant in Hungary in the fourth quarter of this year and the Chinese automaker has paused work on a plant in Turkey while it focuses on production in Europe, a top executive said on Tuesday.

"Hungary is the number one priority right now," Executive Vice President Stella Li told Reuters at the company's UK headquarters in west London. "The second priority will be to focus on finding a second (production) facility in Europe."

The start of production comes about a year later than originally expected. Li said last September the plant in Szeged in southern Hungary - BYD's first factory in Europe - would start producing the Dolphin Surf compact electric car by the end of 2025.

Used to speed at home in China when it comes to building new factories, BYD and rival Chery have experienced delays in Europe. Chery has pushed back the start of production at a plant in Barcelona a number of times, but says the joint venture with Spanish carmaker Ebro will start making vehicles in 2026.

Li said BYD was still installing equipment at the factory.

BYD's sales in Europe grew 270% last year to almost 188,000 vehicles. European sales at the world's largest electric vehicle maker rose 144% year to date through May this year to over 100,000 units.

Building EVs in Europe would help BYD avoid European Union tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars.

BYD said in 2024 it would invest $1 billion to build a plant in Turkey that would start production this year.

But Li said BYD has not started building that factory, which is on hold. She said the Chinese automaker does not have a timeline for starting production in Turkey.

(Reporting By Nick CareyEditing by Bill Berkrot)