BYD suspends $1bn Turkiye EV Plant, pivots to Hungary
Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD has suspended plans for a $1 billion factory in Turkiye, opting instead to expand production capacity in Hungary as EU tariffs make European manufacturing more cost-effective than importing from nearby markets.
The company has put on hold a proposed plant in the Aegean province of Manisa, announced in mid-2024 and intended to produce 150,000 electric and hybrid vehicles annually, with its first compact EV now set to come off a Hungarian assembly line by year-end.
The move deals a significant blow to Turkiye's automotive ambitions. "There would have been benefits for supply chains, jobs, research and development, battery production, side industries as well as AI, so many diverse contributions," said Anıl Şentürk, chair of the automotive committee at the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce. "This was a direct foreign investment, so its contribution would not only have been to the automotive sector but the country's economy itself."
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Muhammad Ali Bandial