An investment agreement worth over $1 billion was inked between the Industry and Technology Ministry and Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD to establish a plant in Turkey.
According to the statement released overnight, the Chinese manufacturer of new energy vehicles (NEVs) inked an investment cooperation deal with the Turkish government on July 8, in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
According to the firm, BYD would invest roughly $1 billion in Turkey to build an NEV production facility with an anticipated yearly capacity of 150,000 vehicles. The facility is expected to go into production by the end of 2026.
Newsng gathered that under the terms of the deal, the automaker will build an R&D centre for sustainable mobility technologies in Turkey in addition to an electric and rechargeable hybrid car production facility with an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles.
By the end of 2026, production is expected to begin at the facility, which will directly employ up to 5,000 people.
“Thanks to Türkiye’s unique advantages such as its developing technology ecosystem, strong supplier base, extraordinary location and qualified workforce, BYD’s investment in this new production facility will further improve the brand’s local production capabilities and improve logistics efficiency,” the Chinese automaker said in a statement.
The exact location of the plant’s construction is yet unknown, however, the pro-government Turkish newspaper, Yeni Safak, claimed BYD has been given the province of Manisa, which is located north of the coastal city of Izmir.
“We are in a historic day for our automotive industry. We took the first step of a huge investment to be made in our country,” the Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, shortly after the announcement of the deal.
“In the presence of our President Erdoğan and Wang Chuanfu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer, we signed an agreement for the company to invest in Türkiye,” he added.
We earlier reported that the Turkish Competition Authority has announced that it had fined tech giant, Google, around 482 million lira (US$14.85 million) for not meeting its hotel search-related requirements.
