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BYD Is Bringing Trucks to Europe. Who Gets the Business Around Them?

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22 hours ago

15 September 2026.

BYD plans to launch its first heavy-duty electric truck in Europe in 2027. Local production is expected to follow.

Speaking at IAA Transportation in Hanover on 14 September, Executive Vice President Stella Li said BYD eventually wants to manufacture locally everything it sells in Europe. “For the long term, we will produce everything we sell in Europe here locally,” she said. Once that happens, she added, “we become a European company.”

There is already a precedent inside BYD. The company is building a passenger-car plant in Szeged, Hungary, where mass production is expected to start in 2027. European truck production is less defined. BYD has not yet disclosed where the vehicles would be made or when a local plant would start operating.

The Hanover announcement also showed how much has to happen outside the factory. BYD presented the truck together with financing, charging, energy storage, energy management and services. Reuters reported plans for a workshop network and mobile roadside assistance.

For European companies, this raises a more useful question than where BYD will eventually build its trucks: who gets the business when these functions move to Europe?

The first fleet customer needs more than a truck

A logistics company needs to know where a truck can be charged, how quickly it can be repaired and how long it will take to obtain a replacement part.

These are purchasing questions. A truck waiting several days for a repair is losing money. If a breakdown interrupts a route, the operator may also have to reorganise drivers, deliveries and other vehicles.

This makes the first fleet customers difficult to win. An established European manufacturer can point to workshops, technicians and parts already available across the market. A new entrant has to establish enough of that network before asking customers to rely on it.

A fleet considering BYD will want to know where the nearest qualified workshop is, which components are stocked locally and what happens if a truck stops 500 kilometres from its base. The answers involve companies that may have little to do with manufacturing the truck itself.

Electric trucks add charging to the calculation. BYD says the ETT 44 has a 651 kWh battery, a range of around 600 km and supports megawatt charging at more than 1.5 MW. The company says the battery can go from 20% to 80% in around 20 minutes. For a fleet operator, that performance depends on sufficient power being available where the truck stops.

A depot charger covers part of the demand. Long-distance routes also depend on infrastructure away from the fleet’s base. Grid capacity, charging locations and charging times have to fit routes and driver schedules.

Established European truck manufacturers already have much of this infrastructure. A new entrant has to create it.

Who gets the business?

The answer starts with companies already operating in the places where BYD wants its trucks to operate.

A workshop can become part of the service network once its technicians are trained and it has the right equipment and parts. Those parts have to be stored somewhere in Europe and distributed quickly enough to keep vehicles on the road. Roadside assistance brings in another network of operators capable of recovering and servicing heavy vehicles.

Charging reaches further. A high-capacity site can involve the property owner, grid operator, electrical engineers, construction companies, charging-equipment providers and maintenance teams. BYD can define the system, while much of the physical work remains local.

Finance creates another group of relationships. Fleet operators buy around cash flow and total cost of ownership, so leasing, credit, insurance and residual values can affect whether a vehicle is commercially attractive.

Then come the people and professional services around the operation. Technicians and local teams have to be recruited. Contracts and warranties have to work in European markets. Tax, employment, product liability and regulatory questions have to be handled as the business expands.

Some of these contracts will go to large international groups. Others can go to specialised European providers with the right capability in one country or sector.

This is why the supplier side of Chinese investment is harder to see than the investment itself. A factory produces a headline and an investment figure. The commercial network around it is built through dozens or hundreds of separate relationships.

Follow the function

Szeged shows what happens when manufacturing moves to Europe. The truck business shows an earlier stage.

BYD plans to sell the vehicles before local truck production begins. That means charging, servicing, parts distribution, roadside assistance and financing have to develop around imported vehicles first.

For European suppliers, this timing is important. Waiting for a factory announcement can mean watching the process too late.

A more useful signal is the function moving closer to the European customer.

When a Chinese company moves inventory to Europe, it starts buying warehousing, customs, VAT and fulfilment services locally. When it builds a local sales operation, it needs distribution, marketing and customer support. When after-sales moves closer to the customer, workshops, technicians and parts become important. Production adds property, recruitment, industrial suppliers and a wider range of legal and tax work.

The pattern extends beyond vehicles. Machinery companies need installation and maintenance. Energy-storage businesses depend on grid and engineering expertise. Agricultural equipment needs dealers, workshops and parts networks. Electronics companies holding stock in Europe need compliance, logistics and returns handling.

The question is therefore broader than where the next Chinese factory will open. It is which business function will move to Europe next, and which European companies are positioned to support it.

Are you one of those companies?

A European provider can start with three questions.

Are Chinese companies expanding into Europe beginning to need the service you provide? Can a Chinese buyer understand exactly what your company does and which markets you cover? If that buyer searches from China, can they identify your company as a possible provider?

The opportunity can exist before the connection does.

A Chinese manufacturer may know that it needs a tax adviser in Poland, a logistics company in Spain or a service partner in Germany without knowing which company to approach. On the European side, a specialised provider may have exactly the right capability while remaining difficult to discover and assess from China.

Large companies such as BYD can build extensive procurement structures. Smaller Chinese companies have fewer resources to map European markets provider by provider.

That gap becomes more relevant as Chinese companies move more operational functions into Europe.

About EnterChina

EnterChina operates 西进门户 (Xijinmenhu), a Chinese-language business platform where European service providers can present their companies, capabilities and European market coverage to Chinese businesses looking for support abroad.

Xijinmenhu covers the stage before a business conversation starts. It gives Chinese companies a structured way to understand relevant European providers and a defined channel to contact them.

EnterChina does not trade goods, provide legal or tax advice, or sell lists of leads. The European company provides its own services and manages the commercial relationship directly.

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