Chinese automaker BYD has paused plans for a factory in Türkiye to concentrate on its production operations in Europe, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

BYD said in 2024 it would invest $1 billion to build a plant in Türkiye that would start production ⁠this year, The Caspian Post reports, citing Daily Sabah.

China's No. 1 automaker currently does not have a timeline for starting production in Türkiye, Executive Vice President Stella Li told Reuters at the company's U.K. headquarters in west London.

The factory in Manisa, western Türkiye, was planned to have an initial annual capacity of 150,000 cars.

Türkiye has long served as a low-cost manufacturing hub for major automakers, including Toyota, Stellantis, Ford, Hyundai and Renault.

Last year, the Turkish government said BYD rival Chery would invest $1 billion in a plant with an annual production capacity of 200,000 vehicles.

BYD’s Li, meanwhile, said the company would start assembling cars at its new plant in Hungary in the fourth quarter of this year.

"Hungary is the number one priority right now," she noted. "The second priority will be to focus on finding a second (production) ⁠facility in Europe."

The start of production comes about a year later than originally expected. Li said last September the plant in Szeged in southern Hungary - BYD's first factory in Europe - would start producing the Dolphin Surf compact electric car by the end of 2025.

Used to speed at home in China when it comes to building new factories, BYD and Chery have experienced delays in Europe.

Chery has pushed back the start of production at a plant ⁠in Barcelona a number of times, but says the joint venture with Spanish carmaker Ebro will start making vehicles in 2026.

Li said BYD was still installing equipment at the factory.

BYD's sales in Europe grew 270% last year to almost 188,000 vehicles. European ⁠sales at the world's largest electric vehicle maker rose 144% year to date through May this year to over 100,000 units.

Building EVs in Europe would help BYD avoid ⁠European Union tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars.

Many of the cars made in Türkiye are also destined for Europe and face no tariffs when exported to the EU.