TMTPost -- China’s leading electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD Co., Ltd., is working on strengthen its footprint in Europe despite the European Union’s higher tariffs on Chinese-made EVs.

Credit：BYD

BYD Chairman and CEO Wang Chuanfu and Turkey's Industry & Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir on Monday signed an agreement deal, which invovles BYD’s investment of US$1 billion to build a factory in the country.  The plant, with a research and development center, is supposed to produce 150,000  new energy vehicles (NEVs) including  battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), annually.

The plant is expected to begin production at the end of 2026 and create up to 5,000 jobs. It is anticipated to improve BYD’s  logistical efficiency as it aims to reach European customers, according to a statement from Turkey’s ministry. It will also supply Turkey’s domestic market. Turkey is not a EU member but has a customs deal with the bloc.  

BYD now faces nearly 30% of BEV duty from the EU.  The European Commission announced last Thursday it imposed provisional countervailing duties of up to 37.6%, on top of the ordinary BEV import duty of 10%, on imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China. The executive arm of the EU concluded through an anti-subsidy investigation that the BEV value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidization, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers.

Specifically, the additional individual duties on three sampled Chinese EV makers, would be 17.4% for BYD, 19.9% for Geely and 37.6% for SAIC. That means the EU decided to levy a little bit less duties on Geely and SAIC-made EVs since its pre-disclosed proposed rates are 20% and 38.1%, respectively, while BYD, China’s largest EV manufacturer, faces the same tariff rate as EU’s original proposal disclosed on June 12.

The European Commission suggested the long-term definitive duties will be effective no later than four months ago, if approved by EU countries. All the abovementioned provisional duties are applied for a maximum duration of four months starting from July 5. Within the four-month timeframe, a final decision must be taken on definitive duties, through a vote by EU Member States, and when adopted, this decision would make the duties definitive for a period of five years, the Commission said.

The tariffs didn’t have immediate impact on BYD’s overseas expansion. The Chinese EV maker held a ceremony last Thursday to inaugurate its first EV plant in Thailand as well as in Southeast Asia. It took BYD 16 months to complete construction since the Chinese EV maker started building the plant in March, 2023. The plant, located in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) special zone in Rayong province, can produce the whole vehicle with four major processes and parts. The plant is designed to boast an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles. It is supposed to serve as a hub for the production and distribution of EVs in Thailand, neighboring ASEAN countries and other regions.

As the Thailand factory opened, BYD became the world's first automaker to achieve the 8 millionth new energy vehicle (NEV) rolling off the production line, and the Dolphin was unveiled as the first BYD model off the production line at the facility. Wang Chuanfu said that the company has quickly won the recognition in Thailand after it forayed into the market two years ago.

Wang highlighted achievements BYD made in Thailand these years.  BYD has took the sales champion of pure electric vehicles in the country for the 18th straight month in Thailand.Today, one out of every three pure electric vehicles sold in Thailand is under BYD.