CATL (03750) surged more than 4% in afternoon trading, with gains narrowing to 3.59% by the time of writing, reaching HK$508. The trading volume stood at HK$986 million.
According to reports, Matt Shen, CATL's European business general manager, announced on December 4 in Debrecen, Hungary, that the company's local battery plant is scheduled to commence mass production of battery cells in March or April 2026, pending approval of relevant permits.
The manufacturing facility has an initial planned annual capacity of 40GWh, with reports indicating that the entire output has already been pre-booked by customers. While final equipment installation and debugging for the cell production line are underway, the battery module assembly line at the site has already begun operations.
To date, the module production line has manufactured over 120,000 battery modules, powering more than 30,000 electric vehicles across Europe.
CATL had previously announced in August 2022 its plan to invest €7.34 billion in constructing a 100GWh battery plant in Debrecen, Hungary. The project spans 221 hectares in the southern industrial park of Debrecen, strategically located near automotive factories of major clients such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Stellantis, and Volkswagen.
The Debrecen battery manufacturing base is a key project in advancing Europe's battery production capacity. With the rising adoption of electric vehicles in Europe (projected to account for 29% of new car sales by the end of 2024), demand for localized battery production is becoming increasingly urgent.
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