“We are not in talks with the Government to make cars in Italy” – Corriere.it

Shenzhen (China) – BYD, the largest Chinese car manufacturer, is not in talks with the Italian government to produce cars in our country. To announce it And Stella Li – group vice president and newly appointed president of BYD Europe – during a meeting in Shenzhen, China’s capital city of 20 million inhabitants and home to BYD’s headquarters.

When will you open your first factory in Europe?
“At the end of next year we will launch our first European factory in Hungary, but we are also evaluating the launch of new production plants because one plant may not be enough. We are not currently in talks with your government to open a new factory in Italy.”

So he singles out Italy to produce cars in the near future?
“I know Italy very well and I often go to the Bologna area. I love your country and all options are open: if we decide to open a second factory in Europe we will also evaluate Italy, but, I repeat, at the moment we have not yet contacted the Government”.

Why are you coming to make cars in Europe, the cost is not very high?
«European production for BYD is an important step for brand validation. It’s true, building cars in Europe is expensive in terms of energy and labor, but the customer’s perception changes completely if production is local. It is also a matter of quality and local suppliers who have always had a high level of expertise in this sector.”

Small cars are successful in Europe, will you launch a city car?
“In 2025 we will present an affordable small car suitable for European cities”. (The model is called Byd Seagull, it is already sold in China and currently has a declared range of 305 or 405 km, Ed.).

Why are electric cars not taking off in Italy?
“It is only a matter of time. People have to get used to driving them and I think this change may happen more slowly than we expected. A good way is to try to drive a plug-in hybrid: ours has a high electric range (about 100 km, Ed.) and this can bring people closer to using a model with a battery big enough to recharge” .

BYD has 1% of the market in Europe: how will you achieve your goal of reaching 10% by 2030?
“I want to achieve this goal before that date. We will be able to do this by increasing our widespread dealer network, introducing new models and the opening of our first factory in Europe will also help us a lot. In addition, our head of design Egger is German, he is helping us and a new model to better cater to the tastes of European customers”.

Many in Europe argue that your competition is unfair because it is supported by Chinese government funds…
“Not so, of course. Today, non-Chinese brands that come to build cars in China have many advantages over domestic manufacturers and we don’t try to cut prices like others do. We compete with our European competitors and if we can offer our models at a better price it’s thanks to our technology: we’ve been making batteries since 1995, we’ve worked with big companies like Nokia and gained a lot of experience in this field”.