BYD is considering opening a factory in Canada and could even acquire another automaker to expand its global reach.
The Chinese automobile giant already sells vehicles in Mexico and now wants to open a branch in the United States’ other neighbor, Canada.
Stella Li, executive vice president of BYD, said Bloomberg The automaker is exploring the potential for a Canadian plant but has not yet made a decision.
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“I don’t think a (joint venture) will work,” the senior BYD executive added, confirming that BYD wants to own and operate every Canadian factory, which fits with its approach of keeping much of its supply chain in-house.
Canada has become more advantageous to Chinese automakers, recently announcing a system that provides a quota of Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) that can be imported with significant tariff reductions.
This came after the US imposed tariffs on Canada despite US President Trump signing a trade agreement – the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – with the country that came into force in 2020.
BYD remains excluded from the US market due to significant tariffs. Per BloombergMs. Li said BYD had put any ambitions to enter the U.S. market on hold, with the executive citing a “complicated environment.”
However, US President Trump has expressed his willingness to allow Chinese brands to set up factories in the US, much to the chagrin of industry groups representing American automakers.
“If they want to come here and build a plant and hire you and your friends and neighbors, then great, I love that,” he told the Detroit Economic Club in January.
BYD has already tried to circumvent strict tariffs on Chinese imports in Europe by opening a factory in Hungary, with another soon to follow in Turkey.
One way for BYD to enter the U.S. market is to buy an existing automaker, and while Ms. Li said no deal has been finalized in that regard, BYD is exploring possible acquisitions.
“We are open to any opportunity that comes our way. We will see what works for us,” she said.
Such a move would harken back to the beginning of this century, when various Chinese automakers acquired foreign brands. SAIC Motor brought MG into its fold and even briefly owned a majority stake in SsangYong, while Geely bought Volvo from Ford.
Geely later acquired Lotus and increased its stake in Aston Martin. BYD itself founded a joint venture with Mercedes-Benz to create the Denza brand, only to later buy it out.
It is unclear which automakers would be potential acquisition targets for BYD, which has exclusively produced electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) since 2022.
Due to the advances that the Chinese automobile industry has made in electric vehicle (EV) technology as well as automotive technology, there has been greater cooperation between Chinese and non-Chinese automobile manufacturers.
BYD supplies batteries to companies such as KGM and Toyota and has even jointly developed vehicles with the latter.
BMW and GWM have partnered on a platform used by the Mini brand, Volkswagen will use platforms and technology from Xpeng, Audi has introduced a vehicle on a platform developed with SAIC, and Mazda is exporting two vehicles developed jointly with its Chinese joint venture partner Changan to various global markets.
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