The Chinese automobile company BYD, the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles in the world, does not rule out expanding its industrial presence in the Old Continent in the future beyond the Hungarian factory in Szeged, and leaves the door open to settling in Spain if the “competitive factors “accompany.
“Spain is a historic industrial producer of vehicles. If the conditions are right, why not?” says the general director of BYD Iberia, Alberto de Aza, in an interview with Eph. The nuance comes later, when he recognizes that the decision “will be driven by competitive factors. Today, the best decision was in Hungary, and that is why it was decided to establish itself there. In the future, anything is possible.”
It is precisely the current commercial tension between blocks that leads BYD to brag about the Szeged factorya “milestone” for the firm, which hopes that the production line will produce the first unit at the end of 2025 made in Europe.
“The company makes decisions based on competitiveness, and if the conditions are met, why couldn’t it value it?” he continues.
De Aza has just landed in the position from the Stellantis group. BYD has something else in Spain. The brand arrived less than two years ago and is growing at a “tremendously fast” pace because “it is a product that fits very well into the philosophy of the Spanish buyerwhich highly values the relationship between quality and price. And in that, BYD is unbeatable,” he points out.
According to the sectoral employers’ associations Anfac, Ganvam and Faconauto, until November, BYD has accumulated 4,047 units sold, which is equivalent to a share slightly greater than 0.4% of the total market. This means multiplying the registrations from a year ago by nine, a logical evolution given that the number of available models has increased.
De Aza puts these numbers in context: “We only market plug-in vehicles. Having a ‘mix’ of electric vehicles in the country that hardly reaches 10%, the figures on the market today are not relevant.”
Tariffs won’t change your value for money
Your goal in Spain? Leading, “as it already does in the world”, the sales of new energy vehicles, he underlines to emphasize that the commitment “is for the future” and understands electrification as the “definitive solution for mobility.”
Asked about EU tariffs on electric vehicles from China – the Community Executive will apply a 17% tariff for a maximum of five years – De Aza defends that it is not an issue that affects BYD since it is “a global company which it manufactures, practically, on all continents and in Europe it will do so starting next year.
Regarding whether they will transfer the effect of European trade policy to their prices, he remembers that “we have the best quality-price ratio and that is what is giving us sales success. This strategy is not going to change.”
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