On May 13, Bloomberg reported that BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li said the company has been in contact with European automakers including Stellantis regarding the potential acquisition or use of underutilized vehicle plants in Europe for future localized production. Li said BYD is currently evaluating factory assets in regions including Italy. “We are looking at any available factory in Europe because we want to make use of existing idle capacity locally,” she said. She also noted that BYD prefers to operate such facilities independently rather than through traditional joint-venture structures. BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li in a interview In addition to Stellantis, the company is reportedly in discussions with several other European automakers. Stellantis currently operates around 20 vehicle assembly plants across Europe. The company has previously stated publicly that it is considering selling or sharing part of its European production capacity to reduce operating pressure. Earlier this month, Stellantis also announced an deepened partnership with Leapmotor. Under the plan, Fiat and Peugeot plants in Spain will produce Leapmotor electric vehicles. Compared with earlier strategies that relied primarily on exports, Chinese automakers are now increasingly seeking direct integration into Europe’s local manufacturing system in order to mitigate EU tariffs and trade barriers. BYD’s plant in China BYD has significantly accelerated its European expansion over recent years. The company is already building a factory in Hungary and plans to establish a second European plant in Türkiye. From a market perspective, the move also reflects recovering demand for new energy vehicles in Europe. According to BMI data, European EV registrations rose 27% year-on-year in April to around 400,000 units, driven by higher oil prices and policy support. BYD Dolphin Surf At the same time, Chinese EV brands increased their share of the European market to 22%, with BYD emerging as one of the fastest-growing brands in the region. Data showed that BYD Group’s cumulative sales in the first four months of this year reached 1.0216 million vehicles, including 454,300 overseas sales. In April alone, overseas sales hit a record 134,500 units.