China's BYD Plans EV Production Base in Hungary

China’s leading electric vehicle maker BYD plans to build a new energy vehicle production base in Hungary, it said on Friday.

The new facility to be built in Szeged, in southern Hungary, is expected to create thousands of local jobs, BYD said in a statement on its official WeChat account.

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The biggest Chinese rival to Tesla already has a plant in the city of Komarom in northwest Hungary that assembles electric buses.

The Komarom plant, established in April 2016, was BYD’s first factory in Europe, according to the company.

It now has over 30 industrial parks and production bases globally, with factories also in the US, Brazil, Japan and India.

US concern over plans for plant in Mexico

The company is also considering a production facility in Mexico, according to the Financial Times, which said this week BYD was one of three Chinese carmakers who have spoken to officials in Mexico about setting up factories there.

MG and Chery have also spoken to officials in Mexico about setting up factories, while a fourth Chinese firm has been discussing building a $12-billion battery plant, the FT report said.

The Biden administration is concerned that Chinese carmakers will try to sidestep the measures in the Inflation Reduction Act – which had curbs to specifically exclude Chinese EVs, batteries and other parts from the North American supply chain – to build cheap EVs in Mexico.

“Top members of the Republican-led House Select Committee on China wrote in a recent letter they were worried Chinese companies would use Mexico as a ‘back door’ into their market, the report said.

Senior US officials are now discussing whether to raise tariffs on EVs made by Chinese companies because of the impact cheaper cars could have on the North American auto supply chain, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.