Magna Steyr will produce Chinese cars in Austria
- The assembler Magna Steyr has an assembly plant in Graz, Austria, with a production capacity of 200,000 vehicles per year, for subcontracting agreements generally signed with premium/luxury brands such as Mercedes, BMW, Fisker, Saab, Chrysler, Aston Martin, and Jaguar. In recent years, the Graz plant has been producing only 100,000 vehicles per year, or even less. In 2024, several contracts were terminated, notably with the discontinuation of sales of the Jaguar I-Pace and E-Pace, as well as FiskerOcean. The factory nevertheless continues to assemble Mercedes G-Class, BMW 5 Series, BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra. But these last two models are on probation because BMW and Toyota have announced their withdrawal in 2026.
- Magna-Steyr therefore approached several other carmakers to continue assembling vehicles at its Graz plant. Two Chinese carmakers responded favorably to this request: Xpeng and GAC. While they currently sell few vehicles in Europe, they have ambitions to increase sales, like most Chinese carmakers. Xpeng sold 10,879 battery electric vehicles in Europe in the first eight months of 2025, representing between 16,000 and 20,000 for the entire year. Assembling them in Austria could allow them to avoid the heavy European Union tariffs on models imported from China (31% for Xpeng) and also open doors to the North American market.
- The Xpeng G6 and G9 have been assembled in Graz since the beginning of September 2025, despite no official announcement from the carmaker. The GAC Aion UT and Aion V will be assembled in Graz within a few weeks, with a production run of a few thousand units per year. These models have not yet been sold in Europe.