Honda CR-V to get upgraded in 2027 to push rivals. Home Automotive BYD Opens IDR 16 Trillion EV Manufacturing Plant In Subang, Accelerating Indonesia's... BYD Opens IDR 16 Trillion EV Manufacturing Plant In Subang, Accelerating Indonesia's regional hub ambitions. September 7, 2026 BYD has a flagship EV plant in Subang, West Java and will provide 20,000 jobs to Indonesians. BYD has officially inaugurated its flagship electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Cipeundeuy District, Subang Regency, West Java, committing IDR 16 trillion (approximately US$ 908 million) to localized automotive assembly in Indonesia. The sprawling manufacturing complex marks a critical milestone in BYD's Southeast Asian industrial footprint. Spanning 126 hectares, the plant is designed with an annual installed production capacity of 150,000 vehicles, bringing end-to-end stamping, welding, painting, and final assembly operations under a single fully integrated facility. The inauguration event also celebrated a significant commercial achievement: the official handover of BYD's 100,000th vehicle delivered to the Indonesian market, an M6 DM plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). Production lineup: from budget urban evs to luxury mpvs. The Subang manufacturing plant will assemble a diverse mix of pure electric and plug-in hybrid models to satisfy both domestic mass-market demand and regional export requirements: * BYD Atto 1: An entry-level urban electric hatchback aimed at accelerating mass-market EV adoption across ASEAN. * BYD M6 & M6 DM: An all-electric multi-purpose vehicle alongside its dual-mode plug-in hybrid sibling, tailored for family transport and corporate fleets. * Denza D9: The premium electric and hybrid luxury MPV, positioning the Indonesian plant as a builder of high-end, executive electrified mobility. The manufacturing floor integrates advanced computer-controlled robotics across precision structural welding and automated paint lines, balanced by a growing skilled domestic assembly workforce. Workforce expansion and comprehensive technology transfer. BYD currently employs over 5,000 local technicians and operational staff at the Subang facility, with plans to scale the domestic workforce up to 20,000 personnel as production ramps up to maximum nameplate capacity. To facilitate long-term technology transfer, BYD sent hundreds of Indonesian engineers and technicians to the group's global research and development centers in China over the past year. Furthermore, the automaker has established vocational education partnerships with technical schools and universities in West Java, establishing direct recruitment pipelines and hands-on automotive software training for local graduates. Local content and battery ecosystem integration. Beyond rolling finished vehicles off the line, BYD is aligning directly with Indonesia's regulatory framework to boost its Domestic Component Level (TKDN). BYD Motor Indonesia President Director Eagle Zhao affirmed that future capital expenditure will encompass localized battery assembly and upstream component supply chains. By utilizing Indonesia's abundant raw material reserves and expanding local tier-one supplier networks, the Subang facility will serve as a self-sustaining automotive manufacturing hub that deepens Indonesia's integration into the global electric mobility supply chain. Written work on dsf.my. @subhashtag on instagram. Autophiles Malaysia on Youtube. September 7, 2026 September 6, 2026

Metropolis Mall expands retail mix with international brands, boosting Cyprus logistics. New brands strengthen Metropolis Mall's retail portfolio. During the first half of 2026, Metropolis Mall in Larnaca introduced a wave of fresh tenants that broaden its retail offering. The latest arrivals include KEM Bags, Anna Maria Mazaraki Jewellery, Crocs, New Balance, ZAKCRET Sports, BYD and Mira Mira Jewellery. These additions diversify the mall's product mix, catering to a wider demographic and reinforcing its position as a premier shopping destination on the island. Logistics implications for Cyprus. Each new brand brings distinct supply-chain requirements, translating into increased cargo volumes for the nearby Larnaca Port and a higher demand for inland freight services. For example, BYD's entry - a manufacturer of electric vehicles and batteries - is expected to generate regular container shipments of high-value, temperature-controlled cargo. Similarly, New Balance and Crocs rely on seasonal footwear imports that peak ahead of summer and holiday periods. * Container throughput: Anticipated rise of 5-7% in TEU movements through Larnaca's container terminal during the next quarter. * Road haulage: Additional 15-20 truckloads per day will be required to distribute goods from the port to the mall's spacious, open-plan layout. * Customs processing: Faster clearance pathways are being coordinated with the Cyprus Customs Authority to accommodate the growing flow of high-end fashion and electronics. Design features support efficient goods flow. Metropolis Mall's single-level, open-air architecture not only creates a vibrant shopping atmosphere but also simplifies loading dock operations. Wide loading bays and ample staging areas enable smooth off-loading of containers directly from trucks, reducing dwell time and supporting the mall's commitment to sustainability through reduced vehicle idling. Impact on local employment and trade. The expansion creates approximately 200 new jobs across retail, logistics and facilities management. Moreover, the presence of both international and locally-produced brands underlines Cyprus's role as a regional hub for re-export activities, especially for goods destined for neighboring Mediterranean markets. Future outlook. Metropolis Mall's evolving tenancy mix signals a broader trend: Cyprus's commercial real estate sector is increasingly intertwined with global supply chains. Stakeholders - including shipping lines, freight forwarders and customs brokers - should monitor the mall's performance as a barometer for regional trade health. For more details on BYD's latest store in Larnaca, see the related report linked below.

India could take a cue from Brazil to accelerate battery manufacturing. By Shivangi Gupta September 4, 2026 4 Mins Read Brazil's China strategy could offer a useful model for India, particularly as it has encouraged major Chinese companies to explore local manufacturing partnerships. For India, however, its complex relationship with China, coupled with Beijing's reluctance to share or offshore its battery-manufacturing capabilities, has slowed the country's ambitions to develop a domestic cell-manufacturing ecosystem. Brazil's China strategy could therefore provide India with a potential blueprint for attracting Chinese investment while building local manufacturing capacity. Meanwhile, the contests are scheduled for December 2 and 4, respectively. In both cases, the contracts will run for 15 years, with supply scheduled to begin on August 1, 2028. India's own BESS tenders don't yet make the distinction that Brazil has done, but the rush shows what could happen once one does. Brazil's first dedicated grid-storage auction, the Capacity Reserve Auction for Energy Storage (LRCAP), is still three months away, with bids closing in December, but it has already triggered a scramble among the world's largest battery makers to localise production inside the country. In the past two weeks alone, Jinko ESS signed a cooperation agreement with Brazilian manufacturer UCB Power to assemble BESS locally, potentially scaling UCB's Manaus plant to between 1.5 and 4.5 GWh of annual capacity; CATL struck a parallel tie-up with Brazilian battery maker Moura; and BYD is reportedly preparing to invest up to $98 million in a dedicated BESS production line at its existing Manaus site, creating 300-400 direct jobs. The reason all three moved within days of each other is Brazil's auction design, finalised by the Ministry of Mines and Energy and regulator Aneel. It splits LRCAP into two separate lots: one open to any equipment regardless of origin, and one reserved specifically for storage systems meeting minimum local-content thresholds. That bifurcation is what has manufacturers moving now, months before a single megawatt is contracted - access to the protected lot, and to Brazilian development-bank financing that comes with domestic manufacturing status, is worth securing early. India's BESS tendering pipeline, be it Coal India's 750 MWh Telangana project, NTPC's and SECI's various storage awards, the steady cadence of C&I deployments that IESA tracks has scaled fast, but it has largely done so without Brazil's explicit local-content bifurcation. Solar had ALMM to force exactly this kind of choice on module manufacturers and now cells as well; battery storage in India, so far, has not had an equivalent mechanism written into tender design at the same evolutionary stage the solar market once needed it. That is a policy gap based on perceived technical limitations, and Brazil's experience over the next three months is a useful live experiment for what India's own storage-tendering agencies could consider: a protected-content lot doesn't just reward existing domestic manufacturers, it pulls global cell and pack makers into signing local manufacturing agreements they would not otherwise prioritise, months ahead of the auction itself. CATL and Jinko did not localise in Brazil because Brazilian demand alone justified it - they did it because the auction rules made non-local bids structurally worse off for a defined slice of contracted volume. The combination of technology, local production, and access to financing mechanisms can represent an important step in reducing barriers to BESS adoption. The warning is that local material in Brazil is purposefully limited. It is an auction design decision linked to a particular, one-time procurement event rather than a general import ban, and its ability to produce GWh-scale local assembly by the bid deadline in December has yet to be demonstrated. Similar to Brazil, India's BESS manufacturing base now relies more on pack assembly around imported cells than deep cell fabrication, so a similarly structured tender wouldn't create a cell sector out of thin air either. Based on the data from Brazil over the last two weeks, it would speed the kind of technology-transfer and anchor investment commitments for other essential components that a demand signal alone has so far been unable to provide.