BYD to establish its European centre in Hungary

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and BYD Chairman and CEO Wang Chuanfu have an important meeting at their joint press conference on Thursday, after Hungary and BYD signed a strategic cooperation agreement.

Wang Chuanfu said that it is a tangible result of the agreement to set up a European headquarters in Hungary.

There will be sales and subsequent service and function development at the Hungarian branch, which is expected to employ 2,000 people.

The development here will be strongly supported from the Chinese headquarters, Wang Chuanfu announced. 

Afterwards, Governor Wang Weizhong of Guangdong Province, where BYD was first founded, said that he was pleased that the two countries' relations were steadily strengthening and that they had become strategic cooperation partners with Hungary. This can be seen in Hungarian trade with the Guangdong region, where 10% of China's total volume comes from.

For Hungary, this means that the cars of the future will also be produced in Hungary,

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said. He recalled that the country had been involved in international car production in the 1990s, but that was the past, and now the focus must be on the future: new manufacturers and new customer needs have been left out, and the government does not want to miss out on this. The cabinet has therefore taken the strategic decision to turn the Hungarian economy towards e-mobility.

We could not have done this on our own, we need partners. And China is the strongest player in e-mobility, Orbán said. He stressed that while many states had withdrawn, Hungary remained in the Belt and Road Initiative.

He also said that Hungary will continue to oppose the EU's tariffs on Chinese e-car manufacturers.

According to Orbán, the philosophy has always been that production comes first, followed by development and then research. He recalled which companies have already brought R&D capacity here, but now, according to him, they can move to a new level after the agreement.

Our grand plan is working because BYD has brought its development centre here,

he said.

This is a HUF 100 billion investment, for which the government plans to provide HUF 20 billion in funding, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in a statement.

"In total, two thousand new jobs will be created in this new European hub and development centre. And

90% of these 2,000 jobs will be filled by people with higher education qualifications, essentially engineering qualifications,

he added.

Szijjártó also pointed out that under the strategic agreement signed with the company, the Budapest development centre will employ Hungarian PhD students and university researchers, as well as Hungarian students and graduates participating in dual vocational training.

"At least 50% of the patents created here will be registered here in Hungary and they are committed to working with as many Hungarian companies as possible as suppliers," he said.

What do we know about BYD?

In addition to the factory under construction near Szeged, the BYD Group has been present in Hungary for more than ten years through its bus manufacturing plant in Komárom, founded in 2004 and inaugurated in 2017. This division employs more than 600 people, and according to the last two available reports, its turnover exceeded HUF 17.5 billion in 2022, and was HUF 27.1 billion the year before last.

Indeed, while three years ago they closed with a profit of close to HUF 1.6 billion, in 2023 they reported a loss of HUF 1.23 billion, according to Opten. BYD previously said that the existing plant in Komárom had the capacity to produce 400 electric buses a year.

Before the recent announcement with the Prime Minister, it was already foreseeable that the Chinese company, which also produces electric cars, could decide to make further announcements in Hungary. However, it was hinted that it might be a case of expanding the capacity of its long-established plant in Komárom: a cryptic government decree was published in Wednesday's Hungarian Official Gazette, designating the automotive development at Komárom 7126/17 as a priority investment.

According to Mepar's map database, this is the site next to the BYD plant.

The specific location was not yet announced at the event, but in light of the recent agreement, it is possible that the government decision announced yesterday is related to this.

The government has also decided on subsidies for the Szeged plant, which is planned to produce electric and hybrid cars: HUF 14.4 billion in capital has been provided to MÁV for the development of the industrial park and the area around the BYD plant, for rail extensions to serve the plant. The total investment value of the plant had previously been quoted as HUF 1,200-1,500 billion by the Hungarian government, most notably by Péter Szijjártó, who first announced the arrival of the company's new division two years ago.

Cover photo: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (c) receives Wang Weizhong, Governor of Guangdong Province (l) and Wang Chuanfu, Chairman and CEO of BYD (r) at the Carmelite Monastery on 15 May 2025. Source: MTI Photo/Communications Department of the Prime Minister's Office/Zoltán Fischer