A worker died at the construction site of BYD‘s first European car factory in Hungary, the second death there this year, intensifying scrutiny of labour and environmental conditions at the Chinese automaker’s upcoming plant.
The Chinese national died after being struck by a truck at the site in the southern city of Szeged, the Csongrad-Csanad county police said.
A truck moving across the site stopped beside a loader and, after the loader operator signalled that the way was clear, pulled away as the worker stepped between the two vehicles and was hit, police said.
Ambulances and a rescue helicopter were dispatched, but he could not be revived. Police have opened an investigation into causing a fatal road accident.
BYD said it was “deeply shocked” by the Thursday accident, offered condolences to the worker’s family and said it was fully cooperating with local authorities while the cause was investigated.
Construction of the plant is being carried out by a main contractor, AE Industry Hungary Kft., and subcontractors, rather than directly by BYD.
It was the second death at the site this year.
In mid-February, a worker was killed during a loading and crane operation on a Saturday shift.
AE Industry said then that it and its subcontractors were cooperating with authorities and that all companies involved were committed to full compliance with the law and safety rules. Police opened a case for negligent endangerment in the workplace resulting in death.
In May, a Chinese worker in his 40s survived after a truck ran over his leg, the ambulance service said, leaving him seriously injured but stable.
The incidents have sharpened attention on conditions at the project, which Magyar Hang has documented since March, when an industry source speaking on condition of anonymity described overcrowded vehicles without licence plates, roads covered in mud and water, dangerous ditches, fights among workers and labourers being ferried in vehicle boots.
The New York-based group China Labor Watch has alleged systemic abuses at the site, including excessive hours, withheld wages, opaque pay records and irregular use of visas.
Its director, Li Qiang, said Chinese workers laboured seven days a week, nine to 12 hours a day, often without rest days, with one worker’s annual overtime exceeding 1,200 hours.
BYD has faced comparable allegations abroad, often centred on its contractors. In December 2024, Brazilian authorities halted construction of a BYD plant in Camacari, in the northeastern state of Bahia, after finding more than 160 Chinese workers hired by a contractor in conditions they described as “slavery-like.”
Prosecutors later sued BYD and two contractors for about $45 million.
Environmental dispute
The Szeged project has also drawn an environmental investigation. Hungarian authorities are examining claims that contaminated soil was moved from the construction site to farmland nearby.
BYD denied wrongdoing. “That is a false claim,” Executive Vice President Stella Li said at an international conference in Belgrade, according to Bloomberg, adding that the company had hired lawyers to respond.
Li said BYD remained committed to the Hungary project and was focused on ramping up production.
Authorities allege the company removed humus-rich topsoil without the required measurements or notification and spread it across about 20 hectares of farmland, a tenth of which was found to be contaminated with alkylbenzenes, according to local media.
The latest tests showed levels no longer above the legal limit, but affected farmers have been told to destroy crops grown on the land or face fines of up to 150 million forints ($490,000).
BYD was fined 10 million forints.
First EU plant
The Szeged factory will be BYD‘s first manufacturing site within the European Union and a central part of its drive to localise production in the region.
The plant began trial production in late January, and Li said this month that vehicle assembly is expected to start in the fourth quarter.
Building cars inside the bloc would allow BYD to avoid European tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
The company faces a 17% countervailing duty on top of the EU’s standard 10% car-import tariff, imposed in late 2024 after Brussels concluded that Chinese EV production benefited from unfair subsidies.
European Sales in May
BYD‘s European sales have climbed sharply even before local output begins.
The company registered 27,641 vehicles across 17 European markets in May, up about 135% from a year earlier and 14% from April, according to registration data compiled by the trade outlet EV.
It is also preparing to launch the Dolphin G, a small plug-in hybrid that is its first model designed specifically for Europe, with deliveries expected by autumn. As a plug-in hybrid, the car falls outside the EU’s electric-vehicle duties, a category Chinese brands have increasingly used to preserve access to the market.
BYD is also weighing a second European plant and has drawn up a shortlist of possible locations, Li said, with options including buying an existing factory, partnering with another manufacturer or building from scratch.
During her visit to Serbia, Li met President Aleksandar Vucic, who said the country could play a role in BYD‘s European manufacturing network.
No final decision has been announced.
