China’s largest electric car manufacturer, BYD, has secured a $1bn (£780m) agreement to establish a manufacturing plant in Turkey, continuing its expansion beyond its home country.
According to Turkish state news agency Anadolu, the new plant will have a production capacity of up to 150,000 vehicles annually. The facility is expected to begin production by the end of 2026 and will create approximately 5,000 jobs.
The deal was signed at an event in Istanbul attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and BYD’s chief executive Wang Chuanfu. BYD did not immediately respond to a BBC request for further details on the agreement.
This announcement comes as Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers face increasing pressure in the European Union and the United States. Last week, the EU increased tariffs on Chinese EVs to protect its motor industry, imposing an additional 17.4% tariff on BYD vehicles shipped from China to the EU, on top of a 10% import duty.
Turkey, part of the EU’s Customs Union, allows vehicles made in the country and exported to the EU to avoid the additional tariff. The Turkish government has also imposed an extra 40% tariff on imports of Chinese vehicles to support local car manufacturers.
In May, US President Joe Biden increased tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars, solar panels, steel, and other goods. The measures, which include a 100% border tax on electric cars from China, aim to protect US jobs in response to what the White House described as unfair policies.
BYD, backed by US investor Warren Buffett, is the world’s second-largest EV company after Elon Musk’s Tesla. The company has been rapidly expanding its production facilities outside China. At the end of last year, BYD announced plans to build a manufacturing plant in Hungary, an EU member state, which will be its first passenger car factory in Europe and is expected to create thousands of jobs.
On Thursday, BYD opened an EV plant in Thailand, its first factory in Southeast Asia, with an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles and projected to generate 10,000 jobs. The company has also announced plans to build a manufacturing plant in Mexico.
