BYD is already ready, it will produce cars in Hungary from 2025

There is a date: 2025. Two new car factories will come into operation in Hungary next year: one of BYD and the other of BMW. This is supported by Reuters, which quotes Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas.

“Optimism for next year’s economic policy is supported by current developments, as new BYD and BMW plants begin production in the second half next year,” said Gulyas. The Hungarian government, in fact, expects the country’s economy will grow by 3.4% in 2025 also driven by the production of electric cars and batteries.

An important estimate, given that, as Automotive News reminds us, in the third quarter the Hungarian economy entered a technical recession (-0.7% compared to the previous three months).

A solution to the “duties” problem

Let’s start with BYD, which started selling imported electric vehicles in Europe in 2022 and opened 250 sales outlets in 19 European countries. The Chinese giant, which in record time (just 29 years after its foundation) has climbed the rankings of car manufacturers worldwide, moved well ahead of its compatriot competitors, deciding to open a car factory in Europe already last year.

Production in the Old Continent will help the house avoid a increase in price listssince BYD must pay a 17% tax on all-electric cars it exports to Europe from China, on top of an existing 10% duty.

The factory under construction in Szeged, as reported by the analysis company Bernstein, could have a volume of 200,000 cars a yearboth BEV and PHEV. And BYD is already thinking about a second European production site.

Not just cars, batteries too

The BMW factory of Debrecen will build its new generation of long-range, fast-charging battery electric cars on the Neue Klasse platform. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also promoted the inauguration of Chinese battery production plants in Hungary.

In the same city, in fact, CATL is building a huge battery plant from 7.3 billion euros which will supply several manufacturers, including BMW and Mercedes. It will have a production capacity of 100 gigawatt hours, enough to power more than 1 million cars.