Chinese EV Investment Shifts Abroad, Tech Stay Home: Report

BYD said Q3 profit fell 32.6% to $1.1 billion as China price war hit margins, but forecast EV and plug-in hybrid exports to double.
For the first time, Chinese EV firms invested more abroad than at home in 2024, led by Southeast Asia assembly plants. Yet core battery cell production remains in China, Rhodium data shows. Image via BYD Brazil

Chinese EV makers invested more abroad than at home in 2024 for the first time, Rhodium Group data show, but real production capacity and completion rates remain overwhelmingly domestic, revealing early-stage globalization with high foreign execution risk.

About 15% of announced global battery-cell and vehicle-assembly capacity is outside China, and 25% of overseas projects have reached completion, compared with 45% in China.

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by Edwin Shri Bimo

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