BYD vice president Stella Li told the Financial Times Future of the Car conference in London that the company is actively negotiating to acquire idle manufacturing capacity across Europe, with Italian Stellantis assets the primary focus. She identified Maserati specifically as a “very interesting” takeover candidate — a statement that landed harder than most conference floor remarks.
Why now
The timing is driven by two forces pulling in the same direction. On the demand side, the European Union introduced import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in October 2024 — between 17% and 35% depending on the manufacturer — making it essential for BYD to build locally to compete on price. On the supply side, BYD is under financial pressure: Q1 2026 net profit fell 55% year-on-year, and Chinese domestic sales have contracted for eight consecutive months. The international expansion target — 1.5 million vehicles outside China in 2026 — needs manufacturing infrastructure that the Szeged, Hungary plant (which began trial production in January 2026) alone cannot provide.
What BYD wants
BYD is looking for any available capacity, but Italy is the priority. Stellantis has been cutting utilisation at several Italian sites, and the incoming CEO Antonio Filosa has been under pressure from Rome to keep those plants working. A BYD acquisition would resolve the political optics for Stellantis while giving BYD a ready-made facility with an experienced workforce.
Critically, Stella Li specified that BYD wants to manage any acquired factory independently — no joint ventures, no shared governance. That condition rules out several potential European partners who have proposed collaborative arrangements.
The broader trend
BYD is not the only Chinese producer shopping for European production assets. Geely has agreed to acquire Ford’s Valencia plant in Spain. Stellantis itself is transferring two Spanish factories to Leapmotor, the Chinese EV brand in which it holds a 21% stake. The direction of travel is consistent: European manufacturing capacity, idled by the shift away from combustion vehicles and declining domestic demand, is being absorbed by Chinese producers who need to build inside EU borders to avoid tariffs.
Whether the Maserati conversation goes anywhere depends on Stellantis’s willingness to separate the Italian luxury brand from the rest of its portfolio — something previous management was firmly against. Under Filosa, that position may be more negotiable.
