BYD has almost completed its first European based plant in Hungary and already looking for the second one. Everybody say it’ll be Italy or Spain. So, we can comfortably dismiss NATO as a strategic excuse since all the mentioned countries are NATO members to begin with.
I‘ve seen some Turkish auto industry experts opinions on social media where they suggest that Turkish manufacturing costs are well above Hungary. IF true, that’s a more logical explanation. VW and Toyota had already left Turkey long time ago. One European and one Japanese and now a Chinese company.
It’s not really easy to explain all these departures on political grounds.
Toyota are currently operating a factory in Turkey as we speak.
Nine Toyota European manufacturing plants in seven countries build nine different models as well as the required engines and transmissions.
www.toyota-europe.com
Volkswagen is struggling to stay profitable and never had a factory in Turkey to begin with. VW Group has been fumbling the bag, don't ask about Audi's and especially Porsche's profit margins
And if you look at BYD's sales in Europe it's obvious why they didn't go through.
Their sales in Europe in 25 stand at a meager 188k - meager for BYD's stated goal of wanting to become the world's biggest automaker.
They already have what people call "overproduction" in China and are looking to export. Hungary is producing Dolphin surfs (B segment) right now. it makes no sense for byd to open another factory in The European Customs Union. They screwed over the Turkish state with this though. If I were to buy a car in Turkey today, id go with a Toyota for Hybrids/ICE or Togg for EVs (the latter out of patriotism. if I had no soul it'd be a Tesla.)
The cars seem to be good quality, and they are significantly more affordable than western-made EV's. They will probably do well when they come to Canada.
There's a bit of noise in that article I think in terms of the reasons provided, I don't think the decision is political having to do with the Uyghurs or air defence systems.... This is treated as a side note but it really is more convincing as to why there is pivot:
Turkey is part of the Made in Europe initiative though. On top of being in the ECU that is. No idea why Ragip refers to an article from prior to this announcement though
As far as Chinese cars go in general - the Chinese keep their best stuff in their own market. For example, he byd han L has been in China for over a year meanwhile you can't buy that in Europe still. Same goes for Denza - yet. When all you get is outdated BYDs and MGs, of course people think they're trash
I'd absolutely have a Zeeker 8X though. Or a Yangwang.
