BYD and the government of Szeged, the fourth-biggest city in Hungary, have penned an initial land purchase agreement for the Chinese automaker’s first car factory in Europe.

BYD and Szeged inked the deal on Jan. 30, the Shenzhen-based firm said on WeChat yesterday. The plant, scheduled to be built in three years, will mainly make passenger cars for Europe, it added, without disclosing an investment amount.

BYD, which overtook Tesla as the world's top seller of electric vehicles last year, announced the plan to build the Szeged factory last December, aiming to become the first Chinese carmaker with a plant in a European Union member country.

BYD is pleased to bring its advanced technology and automated production lines to Hungary to aid the local car industry's e-transition, Chairman and President Wang Chuanfu said at the signing ceremony. It will launch more customized products to the European market via localized production, he added.

Hungary has a mature auto industry, and BYD built its first European plant for all-electric buses in Komarom in 2016. The passenger car factory will expand on the connection forged nearly eight years ago, the carmaker pointed out.

BYD sold 3.02 million vehicles last year, up 62 percent on 2022. Its annual net profit likely jumped 74 percent to 86 percent to between CNY29 billion and CNY31 billion (USD4.1 billion and USD4.4 billion), the company said on Jan. 29.