A Chinese car factory may come to our country, the signs point to the world's largest electric car manufacturer, BYD. The cooperation between Hungary and China has become a success story since the change of government in 2010, as the Asian giant is our country's ninth most important trading partner and this year again its largest foreign investor.
The arrival of a Chinese car factory producing electric cars would also be linked to China's large investments in domestic battery production. BYD (Build Your Dreams) is being looked at in several European countries, Hungary is also among the candidates - reports the G7.hu business news portal. BYD is one of the largest manufacturers of plug-in, pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars.
The company sold 1.86 million battery-powered cars last year, and including hybrids, they are already the world leaders in the segment.
They are especially strong in the cheaper popular car categories; their production chain is amazingly efficient, they brought almost the entire vertical in-house, from lithium mining to microchip, battery and car production.
They already have several factories in Hungary: they have a small e-bus factory in Komárom, they are now building a battery assembly plant in Fót, and one of their subsidiaries manufactures Huawei phones in Páty.
While in China they tripled in one year last year, their exports are only now starting. They are sold in 18 countries in Europe, the release in Hungary was announced just this week.
They start with three types (Atto 3, Dolphin, Seal). By 2030, they want to be among the three largest in the European e-car market.
However, the Asian company's appearance in Europe may be made more difficult by the fact that the European Commission, which is wary of cheap Chinese e-cars, launched an investigation against Chinese exporters accused of dumping prices on French initiative in September. The end of this may be the introduction of punitive tariffs. Chinese manufacturers are also interested in bringing production to Europe because of this protection. It is therefore no coincidence that Hungary is on the horizon of several Chinese car factories planning European production.
BYD is even thinking about building two European factories. In the spring, according to the Financial Times, he considered five possible locations: Germany, France, Spain and Poland, along with Hungary. The decision can be made this year, the goal is for production to start as early as 2025 - read on G7.hu.
"Nowadays, it is no exaggeration to say that if a Chinese investment comes to Europe, it will very likely come to Hungary," said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó during his visit to China this week. The minister added: without Chinese investments, the Hungarian economy would not have been able to set investment records in recent years. Last year, for example, 6.5 billion euros worth of investments came to Hungary.
"Thanks to China's absolutely high-tech investments, we will double our investment record by the end of the year. And the fact that Hungary has become the meeting point of Eastern and Western investments plays a huge role in this investment record. Namely, especially in the industry that will fundamentally determine the future of the European economy for the next decades," said Péter Szijjártó.
Source: hirado.hu
Front page photo: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (b) and Wang Chuan-fu, founder and chairman of China's BYD, the world's largest electric car manufacturing company (j), at the BYD car factory in Shenzhen, southern China. (Photo: MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Zoltán Fischer)
