Chinese auto giant BYD is entering the decisive phase of its European manufacturing push: the new plant in Szeged, Hungary, situated close to the Romanian border, is set to begin series production by the end of this year. Four models destined for the European market will be built there, spotmedia.ro reports.
Romania, which lost the race for the assembly site to Hungary, is nonetheless moving closer to the centre of BYD's European plans. Stella Li — described by Profit.ro as the best-known businesswoman in the global auto industry, who leads the company's worldwide expansion and heads its European business — travelled to Bucharest, where she met the local team. Her core message on the previously reported charging-network push, under which each station will cost an estimated €400,000 to €500,000: "we need the authorities' support."
The visit also carried sharper commercial news: Li is searching Romania for component suppliers for BYD's European factories, Cotidianul reports. The clock on the next expansion step is already running — a decision on where the carmaker's next two European plants will be built is expected within a year at most. Across a region where capacity expansion remains a dominant investment theme, as SeeNews' Southeast Europe tracking shows, that timeline gives Romanian parts makers a concrete opening to plug into BYD's European supply chain even without an assembly line of their own.
