BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD expects to establish a European centre in Hungary, CEO and President Wang Chuanfu said on Thursday at a news conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest.
Wang said that the new European centre will create 2,000 jobs and have three functions. It will be a hub for sales and after-sales services, for testing and for developing localised versions of the company’s models.
BYD built its first European plant, a factory that assembles electric buses, in the city of Komarom in northwest Hungary in April 2016. A second Hungarian factory that will produce electric vehicles is under construction.
Hungary under right-leaning Orban has become an important trade and investment partner for China, in contrast with some other EU nations that are considering becoming less dependent on the world’s second-largest economy.
Orban started bringing his country closer to Beijing after he came to power in 2010. Warm political relations turned into investments about a decade later when battery and electric vehicle makers started to bring production to Hungary.
(Reporting by Anita Komuves; Writing by Jason Hovet; Editing by Joe Bavier)
