BYD draws EU scrutiny over labor abuse allegations at Hungary factory

byd is facing scrutiny in the european parliament over alleged labor abuses at its factory in szeged, hungary. a report from china labor watch claims contractors kept thousands of employees working seven days a week, with shifts over 12 hours. three eu parliament members formally asked the european commission about the allegations this month. the report says workers were told to tell inspectors they worked "five days per week, eight hours per day." clw founder qiang li said managers were rushing to begin car production by january 2026. one contractor, aim construction hungary, is a subsidiary of jinjiang construction group — the same firm linked to a 2024 scandal in brazil involving conditions "analogous to slavery." byd said in december 2024 it stopped working with jinjiang's brazilian unit. hungary's ambulance service said it was called to the site 12 times since february, with one death. byd did not respond to requests for comment. the szeged factory is slated to produce 300,000 cars per year. byd's eu registrations more than doubled in the first two months of the year to 29,291.