EU carmakers pave way for Chinese rivals as balance in market shifts

BYD's luxury EV Denza Z on display at the Auto China exhibition in Beijing in April. The European manufacturer Stellantis is one company that has had talks with BYD. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

The Chinese carmaker Xpeng is on the hunt for a factory in Europe. Volkswagen is aiming to reduce the number of its factories. It seems like it should have been the perfect set-up for a deal.

Yet there was one problem with the plant on offer, according to Elvis Cheng, Xpeng’s managing director for north-eastern Europe: “It’s a little bit, I would say, old.”