The Chinese giant BYD considers building its third European factory in Spain

The Chinese manufacturer BYD of electrified vehicles would be planning to inaugurate an assembly plant in Spainaccording to sources familiar with the process consulted by Reuterswaiting for an official announcement that could occur at the end of this year. This plant would be the company’s third in Europe and it would join those of Hungary and Türkiye, which are making the final preparations to begin production between the end of this year and 2026 at the latest.

Among the reasons for starting this plant, according to the same sources, would be relatively low manufacturing costs and clean energy network. BYD has an important market in Spain, where it has recently exceeded 20,000 registrations, after just two years since its arrival in the country. On a recent visit to Spain, BYD executive vice president, Stella Li, highlighted that the country is “a strategic market for BYD in Europe”.

It so happens that Alberto De Aza, national director of BYD for Spain and Portugal, has already advanced Reuters last month that Spain would be an ideal location for further expansion of BYD’s European manufacturing footprint due to its industrial infrastructure and cheap electricity. The final decision on the plant, which should be taken before the end of the yearwill have to first be submitted to examination by Chinese regulators.

With the ambition of leading the Spanish market

When we talk about BYD, we talk about not only China’s leading automobile manufacturer, but also the label that sells the most electric vehicles in the world, ahead of Tesla. Until September, the group has delivered a total of 1.6 million electric vehicles, after growing 17.6%, compared to the 1.21 million cars that Elon Musk’s firm has sold in the same period.

In Spain, the Asian giant has set the goal of being the leading company in sales of electrified vehicles – electric and plug-in hybrids. Only in August, BYD was once again the company that sold the most plug-in vehicles in Spain with 1,827 registrations or, in other words, 12.2% of the market. With these data, the manufacturer has sold a total of 14,181 cars in Spain in eight months, a tenth of the market, after multiply its sales by seven compared to last year.