Chinese battery and car maker BYD Co Ltd is planning to set up a vehicle manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia, to further accelerate its international expansion, according to China Daily.
Ibrahim Qahtan, BYD's director in charge of Middle East market, said in a recent interaction that the Warren Buffett-backed company is exploring the possibility of having an assembly plant in the country, to provide vehicles and spare parts for the local market.
Once the local charging infrastructure is ready, BYD also plans to export its electric vehicles to Saudi Arabia. However, further details and the actual timetable are yet to be finalized, he said.
The Saudi Arabia plan is the latest overseas expansion move made by the Shenzhen-based company, after Senior Vice-President Li Ke announced earlier this year that it would invest $100 million for a factory to produce 4,000 electric buses a year in Brazil.
BYD was the first Chinese automaker to set up an electric bus plant in California last year, with an initial investment of $30 million. The company has already started to manufacture vehicles in Iraq, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.