BYD Türkiye EV Plant Pause Puts $1 Billion Deal Under Scrutiny
By Bosphorus News Economy Desk
Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD has put its planned $1 billion factory in Türkiye on hold, leaving one of Ankara's most promoted automotive investment deals without a construction start or production timeline less than two years after it was announced.
BYD executive vice president Stella Li told Reuters that the company's priority in Europe is now its manufacturing hub in Szeged, Hungary, which is planned to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2026. She said BYD's second priority would be finding another facility in Europe, with the company looking at existing or idle automotive plants rather than committing immediately to a new greenfield project.
The remarks leave the Manisa project in a more uncertain position. BYD has not started building the Turkish facility and does not have a clear schedule for beginning production there.
A deal announced at Dolmabahçe
The Türkiye project was announced in July 2024 after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu attended a signing ceremony at Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul.
Türkiye's Industry and Technology Ministry said at the time that BYD would invest about $1 billion to establish an electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle production plant with annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles. The ministry also said the investment would include a research and development center and create thousands of jobs.
That official announcement remains the public record of the investment deal. No official cancellation has been announced by Ankara.
The new uncertainty now raises a different question: whether the investment promise that helped give BYD a stronger position in the Turkish market will turn into factory construction, local production and employment within a clear timetable.
Parliament questions incentives
The issue has now moved into parliament. Turkish media reported that Burak Dalgın, deputy chair of the İYİ Party and a member of parliament from Balıkesir, submitted a parliamentary question to Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır over the BYD project.
Dalgın asked whether the ministry had been informed that the investment process was suspended, whether any sanctions would apply if the project was delayed or dropped, whether guarantee letters or similar commitments had been received and how much additional gain BYD may have obtained through tariff exemptions.
The questions also touched Chery's planned investment process in Samsun, but the immediate public focus remains BYD because its Manisa project had been presented as a landmark Chinese investment in Türkiye's electric vehicle industry.
The incentive issue is sensitive because Ankara had eased pressure on BYD after the investment deal, while Chinese electric vehicle imports had faced new restrictions and tariffs. That makes the plant timetable a public policy matter, not only a company decision.
China EV strategy under pressure
The BYD pause now raises a wider question about how Türkiye manages Chinese automakers after using tariffs, exemptions and investment promises to shape the electric vehicle market. Bosphorus News previously examined that wider field through SAIC and BYD's 2026 positioning in Türkiye, as Chinese brands became central to the country's EV market and industrial policy debate.
The European side of BYD's strategy has also changed the picture. The company is moving ahead with Hungary as its main EU production gateway, while also studying existing factories elsewhere in Europe. That matters because the Turkish project was originally presented as a major production base outside the EU but close to European, Middle Eastern and regional markets.
The Hungarian plant also helps BYD respond to European Union tariffs on China-made electric vehicles. A functioning EU plant gives the company a more direct answer to Brussels, while a Turkish plant would serve a different industrial and trade geography.
Ankara's EV investment test
The delay also tests a wider investment policy that Ankara has been trying to build around electric vehicles. Bosphorus News previously reported that Türkiye had been urging major automakers to solidify EV investment plans, a strategy now facing a harder question: how quickly investment promises turn into factories, jobs and production.
Türkiye has tried to position itself as a regional electric vehicle production base while also protecting its domestic EV market and supporting Togg, the country's local electric vehicle brand. The BYD case now sits at the center of that balance.
A delayed factory does not automatically mean the deal has collapsed. It does mean Ankara's incentive and tariff policy will face closer scrutiny until BYD provides a construction calendar or the ministry gives a clearer public update on the agreement's status.
The immediate signal is caution. BYD is still building its European manufacturing map, but the Turkish plant that was announced with high political visibility in 2024 is no longer moving with the same clarity.
***Sources: Industry and Technology Ministry of Türkiye, Karar, IntelliNews and Bosphorus News reporting.