The one thing conspicuously missing from BYD's Szeged plant is the money. The Hungarian government previously promised significant state subsidies for the construction of the Chinese carmaker's factory in the southern city, but no valid contract regarding the disbursement of the funds has been signed — even as the plant races toward its late-2026 start of mass production. For a project billed as a landmark of Hungarian industrial policy, the gap between promise and paperwork is getting harder to explain away.
The timing could hardly be more delicate. Under its former leader, Hungary positioned itself as a European hub in the battery supply chain, courting companies from China and South Korea that went on to set up plants making components for electric vehicles. Now a post-Orban shakeout is rippling through the country's auto industry, and the question of who actually pays for the flagship of that strategy has taken on a sharper political edge.
The strain is already visible on the ground. In Debrecen, in eastern Hungary, Semcorp's separator factory — a link in the global EV battery supply chain — is entering its fifth month of shutdown after tests showed excessive levels of metals in the groundwater. The prolonged closure, part of a battery crackdown that has disrupted EV supply chains far beyond Hungary's borders, suggests the environmental patience once extended to the country's battery boom is wearing thin.
