BYD to Start Electric Vehicle Assembly in Brazil This Month

According to Reuters, Alexandre Baldy, the Senior Vice President of BYD's Brazilian operations, revealed that the new factory in Brazil will begin assembling electric vehicles as early as this month. This move aims to reduce BYD's reliance on imported vehicles due to rising import tariffs in its largest overseas market, Brazil. Baldy stated that the company plans to assemble 50,000 cars at the Bahia factory using imported components by 2025 and is currently negotiating with the Brazilian government to lower the tax rates on these vehicles. He mentioned, "We will hold a factory inauguration ceremony in the coming days," though he did not specify an exact date as the factory is still awaiting final regulatory approval. Baldy added, "We have taken full advantage of the window period before the import tariff increase on July 1 to complete our vehicle import tasks for this year." According to Reuters, BYD has exported a significant number of vehicles to Brazil this year to benefit from the temporary low tariff policy, with approximately 22,000 cars exported from China to Brazil in just the first five months. This strategy has raised concerns within the Brazilian automotive industry, which believes BYD prefers local manufacturing in China over production in Bahia. The construction plan for BYD's Bahia factory has faced delays; in May, the Bahia Labor Secretary mentioned that the factory would not achieve full production capacity until the end of 2026. However, Baldy emphasized that the Bahia factory will commence full CKD assembly within the next 12 months and will initiate complete production in July 2026. He noted that once the Camacari industrial park in Bahia is fully operational, it is expected to create up to 20,000 direct and indirect jobs. Notably, the factory in Camacari will be BYD's first facility outside of Asia, with an annual production capacity expected to reach 150,000 vehicles and plans to double this capacity to 300,000 vehicles in about two years. BYD's Executive Vice President Li Ke previously mentioned plans to further double the factory's annual capacity in the future, although no further details have been disclosed.