Chinese new energy titan, BYD, continues to accelerate its global expansion. Adding to its territories in Southeast Asia and Europe, BYD has now spread its influence into South America.
On July 4th, BYD, along with the government of the Brazilian state of Bahia, announced their plan to establish a large-scale production complex consisting of three factories in the city of Camaçari. The total investment reaches 3 billion reais, equivalent to approximately $7 billion. This complex will house BYD's first electric vehicle factory outside of Asia.
The Brazilian factory is set to start operations in the second half of 2024 and is expected to generate 5,000 jobs. Located in the Camaçari Industrial Park, the factory takes over the premises of a Ford automobile plant, which was closed down in 2021. Encouraged by the Brazilian government, BYD decided to establish its new factory at this location.
The large production complex will consist of three units: one for producing hybrid and pure electric vehicles, with an initial annual output of 150,000 units potentially increasing to 300,000 units; one for manufacturing electric bus and truck chassis; and another one for processing lithium and iron phosphate for overseas markets. The factory is expected to create more than 5,000 local jobs upon its operation in the latter half of 2024.
The president of BYD Americas suggested that the establishment of the new factory in Brazil would be a significant moment for BYD in America. The move will promote the popularization and rapid development of electric vehicles in Brazil, serving as a critical step towards climate change mitigation and the improvement of people's quality of life.
BYD also indicated its preference for local suppliers in Brazil, as stated in the official factory announcement.
The general manager of BYD Brazil highlighted the company's commitment to contributing to local economic and social development. This would be achieved by creating value for the society, setting up local production teams, and carrying out a series of training activities to improve employees' professional skills.
The favorable industrial policy towards China and the predictability of the government played a vital role in attracting BYD to set up a factory in Brazil.
In 2015, BYD already had an electric bus chassis factory in the suburbs of São Paulo, Brazil. Later on, it started producing photovoltaic components there and lithium iron phosphate batteries in the Amazon state.
In April this year, following the Brazilian president's visit to China, an investment agreement valued at around 50 billion reais was signed to attract Chinese companies to set up factories in Brazil.
The factory in Brazil is BYD's first automobile factory outside of Asia. Apart from South America, BYD is also constantly expanding in Southeast Asia and Europe.
In March, BYD laid the foundation for a production factory in Rayong, a significant automobile production and export base in Thailand, with production expected to start in 2024.
In October last year, BYD launched the electric vehicle ATTO 3 for the Thai market. As of the end of March 2023, ATTO 3 had 3,000 registered vehicles in Thailand, accounting for nearly 10% of Thailand's electric vehicle registration. Scenes of consumers queuing to order BYD cars in Thailand are no longer news.
In addition, in March, Michael Shu, President of BYD Europe, said that BYD was seeking new factories in Europe or was considering acquiring existing ones to gain a firm foothold in the "highly competitive" automobile industry in the region. The first European factory could potentially be located in Germany, France, Spain, Poland, or Hungary, with the first batch of cars potentially going into mass production in Europe in 2025.
