BYD blames Brexit as it rules out UK for first electric car plant. Subscribe to Electric Vehicle News Bitesize Podcast for FREE to hear more!
The world’s largest maker of electric and hybrid vehicles is not the first to use the EU exit as a reason for such a decision.
The world’s largest supplier of electric and hybrid vehicles will not consider building its first European car factory in Britain due to Brexit.
China’s BYD, which has been backed by U.S. investment billionaire Warren Buffett since 2008, aims to surpass household names such as Tesla and become one of the three most popular electric car brands in Europe by the end of the decade.
China’s best-selling electric carmaker aims to sell about 800,000 vehicles a year in Europe by 2030, and has shortlisted locations in Germany, France, Spain, Poland and Hungary.
“As an investor we want a country to be stable,” said Michael Shu, BYD’s European president. “To open a factory is a decision for decades. Without Brexit, maybe. But after Brexit, we don’t understand what happened.”
BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, said the UK hadn’t even listed its top 10 possible locations for its first European car factory. The company already produces buses in Europe.
“The UK doesn’t have a very good solution,” said Shu. “Even on the long list we didn’t have the UK.”
Hong Kong-listed BYD, based in Shenzhen, began developing batteries in 1995 with the aim of becoming a global giant in the electric vehicle market.
It is not the first manufacturer to cite Brexit-related issues when deciding not to expand business opportunities in the UK.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk said in 2019 that the decision to leave the European Union made building a gigafactory in Britain too risky. The company built its first European factory in Germany and established a research and development base there.
Other automakers have also been forced to assess their business needs in difficult global economic conditions. Ford announced in February that it would cut 4,000 jobs in Europe, including 1,300 in the UK.
Ford says it will invest $50bn (£41bn) in electric vehicles by 2026, but it also needs to decide what to do with combustion engines before banning sales of new petrol and diesel cars. Jaguar has pledged to go all-electric by 2025, and BMW said last month that half of its European sales would be electric by 2030.
BYD is one of a handful of Chinese companies targeting the European Electric Vehicle market, such as NIO, Xpeng and Li Auto.
The company launched three models in Europe, including Norway and Germany, and the all-electric Atto3 sport utility vehicle in the UK.
The SUV is already a hit in China and India, and BYD aims to become the second-largest Electric Vehicle company after Tata Motors this year.
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