Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD is in talks with Jeep manufacturer Stellantis and other automakers to take over EU facilities as part of its international expansion effort, Bloomberg News’in reported on Wednesday.
The talks came weeks after Stellantis’ shocked investors with a loss of €22 billion in EV operations, saying it overestimated demand for clean-energy cars.
BYD’'s vice president of international operations, Stella Li, said in a speech on the sidelines of a car conference in London’We are talking not only with Stellantis, but also with other companies“ said.
“EuropeWe are looking for any existing facility in ’ because we want to use this type of spare capacity, ” said.
BYD became the world's largest seller of electric vehicles last year, but its earnings fell due to weak domestic demand, which pushed it to seek larger markets abroad.
The company is currently building its own factory in Szeged, Hungary, which is scheduled to open in 2027’.
Li also said that Stellantis’in luxury Maserati brand “ is very interesting”, BYD’in Europe’ wants to take over the old brands in a difficult situation.
Stellantis, a French-Italian group whose brands include Peugeot and Fiat’, announced last week that it was considering selling an underutilized factory in Spain’ to Chinese joint venture partner Leapmotor’a.
ItalyTwo Stellantis plants in ’ are operating well below capacity. According to the Fim-Cisl report in the Italian press, the Cassino plant in Frosinone province produced only 2,916 cars in the first quarter of 2026 (.4 decrease) and works five to six days a month.
The historic Mirafiori plant in Turin’ has been scaled down to produce only Fiat 500 hybrid and electric models.
The European car market has not fully recovered from the downturn brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, and its factories are operating at only half the capacity of the average.
At the same time, it faces the onslaught of Chinese automakers whose rapidly advancing technical capabilities and low production costs pose a major risk to their global rivals.
Stellantis did not immediately comment on BYD’'s plans.
