Chinese automaker BYD will invest 32 billion forints (94 million dollars) in a new plant in the northern Hungarian town of Komarom, tripling its annual capacity to 1,250 electric buses and trucks, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
Under right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Hungary has become an important trade and investment partner for China, in contrast with some other European Union nations considering becoming less dependent on the world’s second-largest economy.
“We Hungarians do not consider East-West cooperation a threat, but rather a big opportunity,” Szijjarto was quoted as saying on Friday, adding that the government would support the project with a 3.1 billion forint grant.
🇨🇳🤝🇭🇺 BYD's latest HUF 32 billion investment brings a new electric bus plant to Komárom, Hungary—creating 620 jobs. @FM_Szijjarto confirmed at the groundbreaking that the government is backing the project with HUF 3.1 billion, reinforcing Hungary’s top spot in EU e-mobility.
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) June 27, 2025
🧪… pic.twitter.com/zUwAB5ANFG
Orban, who has spearheaded a drive in central Europe to bring Chinese EV and battery manufacturing plants to Hungary, has said his landlocked country did not want to be squeezed into either bloc and wanted to keep trading with both sides.
BYD, which is also building an electric car factory in southern Hungary and expects to establish a European centre in the country, will establish a research and development laboratory alongside its latest investment in an apparent reward for Hungary’s condemnation of European tariffs on Chinese EVs.
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 EV makers started to bring production to Hungary.
Szijjarto said Hungary had received nearly a third of Chinese inward investment into Europe last year, lifting the total volume of Chinese investments to 5.5 trillion forints (16 billion dollars), representing 64 large projects.
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