Among the expansion plans of the Chinese manufacturer BYD, were those of building a factory on European soil to meet the demand of this market. A facility that was planned to be built in the UK. But Brexit upset these plans, which will mean that the plant will go to another market on the continent, and Spain is among the finalists to take it.
This has been indicated by the president of BYD for Europe, Michael Shu, who in statements to the newspaper Financial Times has said that: “As investors, we want the country to be stable. Opening a factory is a decision of decades. Without Brexit, perhaps. But not after Brexit”.
And it is that from being first on the list of possible places for its installation, the United Kingdom has disappeared and is no longer even among the top 10 ranked. A list that the Financial Times itself indicates is led by Germany, France, Spain, Poland and Hungary.
BYD’s goal is to continue growing on sales that have skyrocketed in recent years, but have become dangerously concentrated in a single market. China.
An exhibition that the expansion in the West wants to minimize, and where the European factory will be one of the keys.
According to estimates, the goal of BYD is to have a plant with the capacity to carry out 800,000 electric cars a year when you reach your full capacity in 2030. A figure that we can compare with the 500,000 units that Tesla aspires to for its gigafactory in Berlin.
This can also give us some clue as to the estimated dates for its announcement, since with a construction period of two years, and another two years to achieve its maximum capacity, this would theoretically lead us to a confirmation of the location this year, beginning of the works at the beginning of 2024, opening of the first lines in 2025-2026and maximum capacity in 2029-2030.
Its opening is a key moment, not only from the point of view of job creation in the chosen country, but will also mean a competitive advantage for BYDwhich will be able to launch vehicles with more competitive prices thanks to the lower logistics and tariff costs, also adding the additional safety factor in the face of protectionist measures from the states limiting access to subsidies for vehicles manufactured at our borders.
