China’s BYD is in talks with Stallantis and others to take over its car manufacturing firms in Europe as part of its efforts to expand globally, according to a Bloomberg News report.
Stellantis has many companies under it including Jeep, Citroën, Peugeot, Opel and others.
“We’re not only talking to Stellantis, we’re talking to other companies as well,” said Stella Li, director of international operations at Stellantis, speaking at a conference in London.
“We are looking at any firm that exists in Europe because we want to use it.”
Last year, BYD became the company that sells the most electric cars in the world, but its profit is decreasing due to the decrease in the demand for its cars in its country of origin, which is why it wants to import to large markets abroad.
Stellantis announced last week that it is considering selling one of its Spanish firms to its Chinese partner, Leapmotor.
France’s Stellantis did not respond when asked by AFP about the reports.
In European countries the industry has not fully recovered from the reductions due to Covid-19 and many existing firms are producing at half the capacity.
They also face the problem of Chinese companies importing technology and cheapness of their production.