Vietnam’s government announced in May that BYD plans to construct a facility for manufacturing and assembling electric cars in Phu Tho, a northern Vietnamese province where BYD already operates a plant producing tablets for Apple.
The Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD has decelerated its plans to establish an EV factory in Vietnam, according to a manager of the industrial park where the proposed plant is to be located. This information was shared during a shareholders meeting on Thursday. Previously, in May, the Vietnamese government had announced that BYD intended to construct a facility for manufacturing and assembling electric cars in Phu Tho, a northern province of Vietnam. This region is already home to a BYD factory that produces tablets for Apple.
Luong Thanh Tung, the Vice Chairman of Gelex Group, which operates the industrial park designated for BYD’s new factory, stated at a shareholders conference in Hanoi that the slowdown in the electric vehicle market and strategic considerations had led BYD to delay the commencement of construction. After extensive negotiations, BYD agreed to reserve 100 hectares of commercial land at the Phu Ha industrial park for the electric vehicle factory. However, due to subsequent delays, both parties are now seeking an appropriate time to initiate the project.
As of now, BYD’s headquarters in China has not provided an immediate response to requests for comments on the statements made by Gelex at Thursday’s meeting. The global EV market is anticipated to experience a slowdown this year, partly due to a reduction in state subsidies.
The announcement of BYD’s investment plans by the Vietnamese government came after a visit to the country by BYD’s head, Wang Chuanfu, in May. Although the statement did not specify a start date or the scale of the investment for the project, during a meeting with Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha in May, Chuanfu expressed his hope for favourable conditions to complete investment procedures as per the Vietnamese government.
In addition to its plans in Vietnam, BYD is constructing an EV factory in Thailand and has plans to build EV facilities in Indonesia. Last year, the company sold over 3 million electric vehicles globally, including battery EVs and plug-in hybrids.
