The high cost of energy is the reason Chinese car maker BYD won’t be making its cars in the UK, says BYD executive vice-president Stella Li.
Speaking to The Independent at the launch of BYD’s new Dolphin G plug-in hybrid supermini in Berlin, Li said: “To do manufacturing, I think the UK needs to reduce its electricity cost, it’s too expensive.”
The UK is BYD’s largest market in Europe by some margin, with 31,553 new cars sold up until the end of May, an increase of 113 per cent over 2025 giving the Chinese brand 3.4 per cent market share. BYD only started selling its cars in the UK a little over three years ago.
Despite not wanting to build cars in Britain, Li did promise that BYD will be taking advantage of the UK’s engineering expertise and doing more research and development work over here. “We’ve decided to put more R&D engineering in UK and then this is happening now,” she said.
BYD’s first European factory in Hungary is set to go on stream in the fourth quarter of this year. Li is also reported to have said the company is looking for a second plant in Europe, with taking over an existing plant a favoured option. Spain is said to be the most likely destination for BYD, despite that country only selling just over half the number of cars sold in the UK.
Rival Chinese firm Chery has already confirmed that it is looking at building cars in the UK, having signed a memorandum of understanding with Nissan to investigate using spare capacity at the Japanese firm’s factory in Sunderland.
Speaking to The Independent at the Chery International Business Summit in Wuhu, China in May, Chairman Yin Tongyue said: “We try to be a citizen of the UK…The UK is a very special country. It’s a big country with high technology, a lot of innovation and it’s the finance centre in the world. The UK has a very good relationship with the European Union and United States, so everything we try to be. We strongly prepare to be local: local engineering, local R&D, local finance, local manufacturing.”
The BYD Dolphin G is the 12th car to be launched by BYD in the UK since 2023, and is the first model made specifically for the European market. However, while it is currently made in China, Stella Li confirmed that production would move to Europe. “The Dolphin G will be produced in Hungary in the future,” she said.
Next up to arrive in the UK will be the BYD TI7, an SUV set to rival the Land Rover Defender and Discovery. But before that, the Chinese company will launch its Denza premium brand, while its YangWang supercar brand is set to arrive here by 2028.
Currently BYD has 144 dealers in the UK, while 267 people are employed at the brand’s UK head office in Uxbridge, on the outskirts of London, and at other locations around the UK.
