In recent years, we have received a large number of new car brands in Norway, most of them Chinese. Not everyone experiences the same success, and especially in the last year, sales of new and relatively unknown car brands in this country have slowed down.
Internationally, however, there is no doubt that the Chinese are really on the rise. At the forefront is the manufacturer BYD, which actually passed Tesla in the number of electric cars sold in the fourth quarter of 2023. At that time, a total of 526,409 new cars from BYD were registered, against 484,507 Teslas.
Now the car manufacturer is taking a new step which they hope will make the brand much more competitive in Europe.
Moves production to Hungary
Transporting cars from China to Europe is both expensive and time-consuming. In addition, the EU Commission has announced that there may be punitive tariffs on cars imported from China, if it turns out that Chinese car manufacturers receive support from the Chinese state.
Several Chinese car brands are under scrutiny for precisely this, including BYD. However, Chinese authorities deny that they provide such support.
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SEAL: The BYD Seal model is expected in Norway this year. This is a large and well-equipped sedan.
In any case, there are ways around the problem. By moving the production of electric passenger cars to be sold to European customers from China to Europe, both transport costs and possible future penalty duties can be saved.
And this is precisely what BYD is now doing. Recently, the automaker revealed that it is planning a huge car production facility in the Hungarian city of Szeged. In that case, it will be the first time a Chinese car manufacturer sets up production in Europe.
In a press release the company states that production must be state-of-the-art and to a large extent automated with the help of robots (check the picture at the top). Nevertheless, BYD expects that the plant will create thousands of jobs and create large, positive economic ripple effects in the region.
Beyond this, BYD has not yet said anything about how large the facility will be and how many cars will be able to be produced there. But the car manufacturer has never hidden its ambitions to challenge global, established car giants.
Foretells violent China growth
MAKES EVERYTHING ITSELF: BYD makes the platforms with battery packs and motors themselves. It gives them great advantages on the cost side, they claim themselves. Here, development manager Weijie Zhang demonstrates e-Platform 3.0.
6,000 in Norway
BYD has been on the Norwegian market since 2021. The first model they launched here was the Tang – a large, electric SUV with seven seats. It is also the model that has sold the best. In total, around 3,400 copies of the model have been registered in this country.
Since then, they have launched the sedan Han and the compact SUV Atto3, of which a total of around 1,700 units have been registered. Several models are planned to be launched in the future.
BYD also makes vans and electric buses, and altogether around 6,000 vehicles from the Chinese manufacturer are registered in Norway.
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