BYD to move German HQ to Offenbach

To date, BYD has maintained its German headquarters at two locations in Stuttgart. The Chinese car manufacturer publicised its intention to move to the Rhine-Main region in the spring. However, they were talking about Frankfurt. Now it will be Offenbach, but the neighbourhood is not far from Frankfurt’s city limits. According to media reports, BYD has rented around 5,000 square metres of office space there for a double-digit number of employees. The company intends to manage its sales, marketing and administrative activities in Germany from here in future. Sales in Switzerland will also be supported from Offenbach. However, the new location is explicitly the German headquarters and not a DACH headquarters, which would also cover Austria and Switzerland.

BYD is therefore another major player coming to the Main. Hyundai’s German headquarters is located a stone’s throw away since the company moved there in 2013. Sister brand Kia has its national headquarters not far away in Frankfurt.

The Frankfurt-Rhine-Main (FRM) marketing agency, of which the city of Offenbach is also a member, was primarily responsible for attracting the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer. The lease will cover five floors in the GROW building and a showroom on the ground floor. The location offers direct access to motorways, public transport and the airport, says BYD, praising the strategically favourable location. Whether all employees will move from Stuttgart to Offenbach is currently still being negotiated. “We definitely want to open this year,” Germany’s BYD Head of Communications Ralf Kaiser is quoted as saying in the local publication Offenbach Post. The number of employees in Germany is still in the double-digit range. However, he added, “We are a very dynamic company, we want to expand in Offenbach.”

Speaking of expansion, BYD also reaffirmed its intention to expand the number of its sales bases in Germany from the current 27 to 120 by the end of the year. Just at the beginning of the week, BYD introduced the Ulmen car dealership as an official sales partner at two locations in the Rhineland. This will also include one of the largest BYD showrooms in Germany.

BYD also has plans to relocate its European headquarters. BYD Europe B.V. is currently based in Schiedam, the Netherlands. However, the relocation of the headquarters to the Hungarian capital, Budapest, has already been finalised. A new European research and development centre is also to be built there. The investments reflect BYD’s high expansion ambitions. The Group set itself the target of selling every second car outside its home market by 2030. Last year, it was only every tenth car.

of-news.de, deal-magazin.com, op-online.de (all in German)