On December 12, BYD’s global expansion continued, and the company will produce its best-selling models Dolphin and Yuan PLUS (Atto 3) in Europe next year.

In an interview with German business magazine Capital, Li Ke, head of BYD Europe, revealed that BYD is building a large production base in Hungary and will start increasing production capacity at the end of 2025. Li Ke said that BYD originally planned to produce the micro electric car Seagull in Europe first, but the company adjusted its production priorities and will first produce Dolphin and Yuan PLUS (Atto 3). Foreign media speculated that it might be due to the higher sales volume expected for Dolphin and Yuan PLUS.

Li Ke also said that it would take two to three years for the Hungarian plant to ramp up production capacity. After Dolphin and Yuan PLUS, BYD also plans to produce a third model in Europe, which is positioned between the two. Li Ke called it “Atto 2”, which is expected to be a facelift model of Yuan UP, which was unveiled in China earlier this year and has been launched. The new car is significantly smaller than Yuan PLUS and adopts a tougher design style. In addition, the Seagull will become the fourth model produced at the plant.

Eventually, the plant will be able to produce twelve different models in parallel. By then, BYD will no longer import cars from China.

It will not be easy for BYD to gain a foothold in the European market. In 2024, the growth rate of electric vehicle sales in the entire European region slowed down. To meet this challenge, BYD is expected to launch more plug-in hybrid models in the European market.

IT Home recalled that in October this year, Li Ke announced that in response to import tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, BYD will produce most of its electric vehicles sold locally in Europe. To this end, BYD is establishing a new supply chain in Europe, which will assemble battery packs in Hungary and Turkey, and only import battery cells from China.