BYD to move its European headquarters to Budapest

China's BYD car manufacturer is moving its European headquarters to Budapest's Újbuda neighbourhood (11th district) where it plans to employ 2,000 people after the launch, the company told MTI. According to the company, the headquarters will be focused on three main areas:

• sales and customer service;
• administration of European vehicle licenses and certificates;
• and vehicle testing, as well as vehicle and function design according to local requirements.

In addition to serving its European operations, two research and development projects will also be launched at the new Budapest center. According to the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), these are record-breaking in terms of value among the R&D projects they manage.

One of the projects, worth EUR 105.1 million (HUF 42 billion), aims to develop a driving technology system based on artificial intelligence that enables vehicles to learn on their own, using data collected in real time from driving situations. According to the statement, the other research and development investment is even bigger, worth €141 million (HUF 57 billion), and is aimed at further developing BYD's powertrain technology and increasing the performance and energy efficiency of electric vehicles.

For these projects, BYD plans to collaborate with at least three Hungarian universities and has also committed to registering at least 50 percent of the patents developed in Hungary locally, HIPA said.

The new center in Újbuda will be BYD's fifth site in Hungary: the company already has a bus factory in Komárom, smaller facilities in Fót and Páty, and an electric car factory currently under construction in Szeged.

The company's European headquarters are currently located in the Netherlands, but will be moved to Budapest in the coming years. The investment was announced on Thursday by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and BYD President and CEO Wang Chuanfu. No details were given on exactly when and how long it will take to complete.

Following the press conference, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced that the investment is worth around HUF 100 billion, with the Hungarian state contributing HUF 20 billion. Ninety percent of the 2,000 jobs will require tertiary-level qualifications.

After the announcement, it remained unclear where the batteries for the cars to be manufactured in Szeged would be produced, as according to Szeged mayor László Botka, no batteries will be manufactured there.

The first European BYD factory is being built in Szeged

As we recently reported, China's BYD, the world's third-largest car manufacturer and biggest electric car producer, announced in 2023 that it would build its first European factory in Szeged. According to press reports, the plant, which will cost between 1,400 and 1,600 billion forints, will initially produce between 150,000 to 200,000 cars per year, and this figure could later be increased to 350,000.

BYD has rapidly increased its sales in recent years, forcing foreign manufacturers out of the Chinese market at a tremendous pace. They are building huge production capacities in China, and have at one point hired nearly 200,000 workers in two months.

BYD still sells most of its cars in China, but they plan to change this in the near future, with Europe being one of their target markets. The gigantic factory under construction in Szeged is expected to meet this demand, and in July 2024, they announced that they will also build another factory in Turkey. According to current plans, both plants will produce electric and plug-in hybrid models. (BYD has not manufactured conventional petrol and diesel-powered cars since 2022.)