China’s ambassador to Hungary, Gong Tao, visited Szeged (southern Hungary) last Thursday, where he was received by Mayor László Botka. Together, they toured the site of the Chinese BYD factory currently under construction, Delmagyar.hu reports.

“What we promised BYD during last year’s negotiations has been fulfilled. We are at an extremely impressive construction stage, mainly because everyone knows what they are doing,” emphasized the Mayor of Szeged.

The largest building of the plant will be 800 meters long and 200 meters wide, with an area of 167,000 square meters. It will indeed be the largest building in Szeged,” explained László Botka.

Ambassador Gong Tao assured attendees of the importance of environmental protection and full compliance with all regulations. Additionally, he praised the mutual benefits and successes achieved by both countries and referred to the „One Belt, One Road” initiative, which Hungary was the first EU member state to join.

During the visit, it was also announced when the first BYD car would roll off the production line in Hungary: almost exactly a year from now.

This means that the first BYD car in Hungary could be completed on November 7, 2025; this milestone is just a year away. Good news for the Chinese company BYD, which is building its first European car factory in Szeged, is that sales of electric and hybrid cars in the EU increased significantly between 2017 and 2023, according to Eurostat data. Last year, 44 percent of all cars imported into the EU were electric or hybrid vehicles, a significant increase from eight percent in 2017.

Last week, BYD reported sales of 201.12 billion yuan (28.24 billion US dollars) for the three months ending September 30, up 24 percent year-on-year. This surpassed Tesla’s reported revenue of 25.18 billion US dollars for the same period, Világgazdaság reported.