Tag Archives: BYD

BYD will start production in Hungary by the end of the year

BYD will soon complete the construction of its plant in Hungary, which will have an initial capacity of 200,000 units per year, and has now announced the start of production from October 2025. This is part of the big plan of the Chinese car manufacturer, which intends to enter the top five best-selling brands in Europe by 2030.

After the introduction of additional tariffs (17%) on imported EVs from China, many Chinese manufacturers started looking for partners or made plans to start production on the soil of the old continent. One of them is BYD, which will have plants in Szeged and Turkey. Initially, BYD will produce the Dolphin and Atto 3 models in Hungary, while the plant in Turkey will start operating in March 2026. Together, these two plants will have a production capacity of 500,000 cars per year.

At the end of 2024, in an interview for the German business magazine Capital, BYD’s European head, Stella Li, stated that the initial plan was to start with the cheap model Seagull, but it was estimated that larger and more expensive models will have better sales, such as the Dolphin and Atto 3. The Seagull will be the fourth model in the fleet of cars to be produced in Hungary, and BYD plans to increase the fleet to 12 models.

The European market is very important for Chinese companies, and in 2024, BYD sold more than 50,000 new EVs in Europe. That’s three times more than in 2023, and with two new plants in Europe, the numbers will definitely go up.

Source: Automotive News Europe, Capital

BYD is the world’s largest EV producer

The Chinese company BYD has been one of the world’s largest car manufacturers for a long time, and now it has finally sat on the throne. According to the latest data, in 2024 BYD sold 1,777,965 EVs, dethroning the long-time leader Tesla.

The year 2024 is over and it brought some changes with it. After the manufacturers collected their sales results, we got a new automotive king of electric cars. Chinese manufacturers have once again shown that they are unstoppable and that their development can hardly be followed by other manufacturers.

In 2023, Tesla produced 1.85 million electric vehicles, while 1.6 million EVs came out of BYD’s factories. However, strong competition, price and an aging fleet of Tesla EVs drove customers to competitors. Since the beginning of the year, the figures showed a drop in demand, which happened for the first time in the history of this American company.

On the other hand, Chinese companies have increased production and entered the global market. This resulted in BYD’s total sales last year increasing by 41 percent to 4.27 million cars. However, if you look at the numbers differently, Tesla is in advantages. The American company sold 1.79 million electric vehicles, while BYD sold about 1.65 million. So, these figures refer to the number of cars sold, not produced, so in this case Tesla has a slight advantage. This means that Tesla sold thousands of cars produced in 2023.

Back in 2023, China showed that it was not kidding and that sooner or later it would become a leader in automobile production. Their cars have become technologically better but also more affordable, which other big manufacturers cannot keep up with.

Source: Reuters

2026 Nio Firefly EV

Chinese multinational automobile manufacturer Nio has unveiled its new car, the Firefly. It is an all-electric city hatchback designed by former BMW and Ford designer Kris Tomasson.

Nio’s plan is to produce small electric cars that are affordable to a wider range of users, as shown by its price of $20,400. It will officially hit the market in April 2025, and the order book is open. It will also arrive in Europe at the beginning of next year and is expected to cost around 30,000 euros.

At first glance, the three-piece round LED headlights, as well as the taillights, attract the most attention, while some parts such as the glass, black roof and pillars are reminiscent of Honda cars. The size of the car is not known, but everything indicates that its main rivals could be models like Fiat Grande Panda, BYD Dolphin or Renault 5.

Firefly is designed to achieve five stars in C-NCAP and Euro-NCAP tests, which is made possible by the use of high-strength steel and aluminum, which make up 83.4 percent of the body structure, as well as double anti-collision beams in the front doors. The car has nine airbags as standard, as well as the best torsional stiffness in its segment (37,700 Nm).

Photos of the interior have not yet been released, but spy photos reveal a minimalistic dashboard, digital instrument panel and a touchscreen infotainment system, similar to that found in Tesla cars. What is known for now is that the car offers a lot of luggage space, which could please families as well as singles who travel with a lot of bags. The front luggage compartment has a volume of 92 litres, which is more than most electric models offer, while the rear luggage compartment offers an additional 1250 litres, when the rear seats are folded down.

When it comes to the powertrain, Nio has yet to release technical details, so more will be known after the car hits the market next year.

Source: Nio

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