The project, championed by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an in July 2024, sought to transform Turkey into an electric vehicle manufacturing hub. Instead, BYD pivoted its strategy toward a new facility in Hungary, prioritizing production within the European Union to circumvent 27% tariffs on Chinese imports. Despite Turkey offering significant tax incentives and facilitating the sale of over 45,000 Chinese vehicles in 2025, the company abandoned the Manisa site. Ankara has since responded by revoking those tax benefits, triggering a sharp decline in BYD’s local market share and allowing the domestic manufacturer Togg to reclaim the lead in the plug-in hybrid segment.

Beijing is now deploying a concerted propaganda campaign to mitigate the fallout. Through the Chinese embassy in Ankara, state-backed media has begun promoting narratives of political unity between the Chinese Communist Party and Turkey’s ruling AKP. This includes hosting Turkish journalists on curated tours of the Xinjiang region—a sensitive move given Turkey’s substantial Uyghur diaspora and the persistent international scrutiny regarding human rights abuses there. While Ankara has historically muted its criticism of Beijing to secure financial support, the failure of the BYD deal complicates this delicate balancing act. As Turkey navigates high inflation and persistent economic instability, the government has moved to launch legal proceedings to claw back the incentives granted to the automaker, signaling a potential shift toward a more confrontational stance.