Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD is to open a major R&D centre in Budapest, Hungary alongside its new European headquarters.
This is the fifth site for BYD in Hungary, following the bus factory in Komárom, additional facilities in Fót and Páty, and Szeged, the location of a forthcoming passenger-car manufacturing plant.
The R&D centre will start with two specific projects, supported by significant investment. The first project will focus on the further integration of intelligence into vehicle designs, while the second will help to develop advanced next-generation electrification technologies.
The company aims to tap into three local universities and work with Hungarian start-ups and domestic suppliers.
“Our goal is for foreign investors to bring development capacities to Hungary. Not only manufacturing, but also development capacities. Our idea has always been that the factories arrive first, then the factories’ development centres arrive, and finally the research centres arrive. It doesn’t work the other way around. First production, then development, and then research. That is why today’s meeting and agreement are of great importance, because now BYD is opening a new era – the company is also bringing its development centre to Hungary,” said Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
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