NIO, one of China’s most prominent EV maker, is reportedly planning to build factory plant in Hungary, according to Cailian.

Citing sources, the report said that NIO’s move in Hungary is to meet “the need to build EV charging stations in Europe.” Prior to this, CATL, the battery supplier of NIO, reportedly plans to build a new European production base in Hungary, and the design of the factory is already in progress.

The company has previously posted several job openings based in Budapest, including one titled “Plant Manager.” According to the job description, the plant manger will report directly to headquarters and oversee the organization and construction of a new plant, as well as manage the plant in the future.

Nio has reorganized its European business development organization on June 1, according to Cailian citing an Nio internal document which indicates Chen Chen, Nio’s Head of European Business Development, and the General Managers of each Nio company in Europe will begin reporting to Nio’s co-founder and President Qin Lihong.

The EV maker has long branded itself as a rival to Tesla, aiming global expansion, with its first stop set in Europe and the first stop in Europe set in Norway. In September 2021, NIO’s ES8 car model was launched in Norway. 404 ES8s have been registered in the Norwegian market, with 604 more waiting to arrive for delivery. The company has also built battery swap stations in Norway, which was put into use this January. NIO test vehicles have since been spotted on the streets of Germany, Sweden, France, Italy and Spain, according to social media posts.

Hungary has been attracting many tech companies in the globe, including Samsung’s factory in Göd and SK Battery’s plant in Komárom. In this year, Chinese battery company EVE Energy and Enjie Holdings have respectively revealed plans to build factories in Debrecen, Hungary. CATL, NIO’s battery supplier and biggest lithium-ion battery manufacturer for EVs in the world, has also made plans regarding its new production center in Debrecen, per Hungarian media e-cars.