BYD's Washington Opening and European Land Grab Move in Tandem
Published on 09/17/2026 at 20:11 | Editorial boerse-global.de
A diplomatic long shot and a hard-nosed factory race are unfolding side by side for BYD this week, and investors are being asked to weigh both.
Bloomberg reports that Xi Jinping is considering placing company founder Wang Chuanfu in the Chinese business delegation for his state visit to Washington, with the White House appointment penciled in for 24 September. No final participant list has been confirmed. The symbolism is considerable precisely because BYD is effectively locked out of the American market: Washington levies a 100 percent tariff on Chinese electric cars, and since June the Pentagon has kept the group on a list of companies suspected of ties to the Chinese military — an allegation BYD rejects.
President Trump had earlier signalled on Fox News that Chinese automakers could build on US soil provided they hire American workers. Democratic Senator Slotkin countered with a warning about risks to 1.2 million jobs in Michigan. Whether Wang's presence at the summit is politically viable at all hinges on that unresolved conflict.
Europe: three assembly plants, one battery cell factory
Far from the summit theatrics, BYD's European build-out is gathering pace. Alfredo Altavilla, the carmaker's special adviser for Europe, told audiences in Turin on Wednesday and Venaria on Thursday that Italy now ranks only as "Plan B" for the group's second assembly plant, with France and Spain the frontrunners and a decision due by year-end. Talks over Stellantis's Grugliasco site near Turin went nowhere — the plant is "not for sale" and now stands entirely empty, according to Altavilla.
The broader blueprint is more ambitious than previously understood: three vehicle assembly plants plus a battery factory on the continent over the long term. The first, in the Hungarian city of Szeged, is already ramping up production. For the second, BYD would prefer to take over or convert an existing facility rather than build from scratch.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying BYD?
Spain's case rests on market momentum — battery-electric vehicles accounted for 9.6 percent of Spanish new registrations in July, a segment BYD leads — and on a deepening supplier base, including the large CATL-Stellantis battery plant in Zaragoza. France, for its part, offers access to one of the EU's biggest car markets. Italy lost out, in Altavilla's telling, because its underlying conditions simply were not competitive, despite ongoing talks about possible incentives.
The location question is more than industrial policy for shareholders. A second and eventually third EU plant would cut import duties and logistics costs — an edge that carries extra weight given the strained trade climate between China and the West. Beyond Europe, BYD is also scouting projects for electric buses, vehicle assembly and batteries in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world's largest cobalt producer.
Product offensive runs on its own clock
Regardless of geopolitics, BYD is pushing models out at speed. In China, an updated version of the compact Atto 2 SUV launched with range extended to 501 kilometres, while sub-brand Fang Cheng Bao's new Formula S line undercuts Tesla in the entry segment. The Denza N8L, a luxury SUV with 960 kilometres of range on the Chinese test cycle and 800-volt fast-charging hardware, joins the line-up as well.
That breadth underscores that BYD is not staking its growth on the US market alone. Should Wang Chuanfu indeed join the delegation, it would read less as a signal of near-term market access than as a test of whether Beijing and Washington are willing to open any channel of communication on the auto sector.
The stock: a bounce that barely dents the drawdown
Thursday brought a gain of 3.9 percent to EUR 9.09, extending a modest recovery of recent sessions and leaving the shares up 4.3 percent on the week. Zoom out, though, and the picture sours: the stock remains 27 percent below its 52-week high set last October.
A second reading of the same market puts the shares at EUR 8.99, roughly 28 percent under the 52-week peak of EUR 12.49 reached in early October, with a 2.8 percent advance on the day.
The European expansion also reads as a response to overcapacity at home. China's auto industry holds manufacturing capacity of more than 55 million vehicles a year, well above domestic demand. That makes overseas markets the strategic release valve — with Europe among the central growth fields, even if the final call on the second plant waits until the end of the year. For investors, the mix of geopolitical risk and operational strength remains the decisive force behind the share price.
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