© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The BYD logo is pictured at the 2022 Paris Motor Show in Paris, France, October 17, 2022. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
HANOI (Reuters) – Chinese automaker BYD Co (OTC:). It plans to expand into manufacturing and assembling electric vehicles in Vietnam, according to a Vietnamese government statement quoting the company’s president.
Reuters reported in January exclusively that the Xian-based electric vehicle maker had plans to open a factory in Vietnam to produce auto parts, with the aim of exporting components to a planned assembly plant in neighboring Thailand.
In a government statement released after the meeting between BYD founder and chairman Wang Quanfu and Vice Prime Minister Tran Hung Ha on May 5, Wang said he expects Vietnam to create favorable conditions for BYD to complete the investment procedures.
The statement did not say how much new investment BYD will complete for expansion.
BYD, which currently operates an electronics and parts assembly plant in northern Vietnam’s Phu Tho province, has also proposed forming a local supply chain, according to the government’s statement on Friday.
BYD’s existence will pose a direct challenge to VinFast, a Vietnamese electric vehicle maker that began selling cars in 2019 and plans to expand into the United States and Europe.
Last September, BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, announced that it would build an electric vehicle assembly plant in Thailand with an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles from 2024.