Correction: The capital city of Bahia is Salvador, not El Salvador.
BYD will invest $620 million in the facility, which will include an electric bus and truck chassis plant, a new energy passenger car plant, and a processing plant specializing in LFP battery materials.
(Image credit: BYD)
BYD (OTCMKTS: BYDDY) will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Brazil to build an industrial complex as it steps up its efforts to expand in international markets.
The Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) maker will set up a large production base complex of three plants in Brazil, BYD and the Brazilian state government of Bahia jointly announced on July 4, according to a statement.
The facility is located in the Brazilian city of Camacari, with a total investment of 3 billion reais ($620 million), according to a statement from BYD today.
The industrial complex includes a production plant for electric buses and truck chassis, a new energy passenger car production plant, and a processing plant specializing in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery materials.
The new energy passenger car production line will be able to produce pure electric and plug-in hybrid models with a planned annual capacity of 150,000 units.
The LFP battery material processing plant will utilize local port resources to meet the growing demand for new energy products in the global market, BYD said.
The industrial complex is scheduled to start production in the second half of 2024 and is expected to create more than 5,000 local jobs, according to the BYD statement.
The creation of a large production base complex in Brazil is an important milestone in BYD's development in the Americas market and will help accelerate the penetration of NEVs there, said BYD Americas president Stella Li.
In October 2022, BYD signed a letter of intent with the Bahia state government to build a vehicle production facility in the industrial area left behind by Ford after it closed its plant outside the city's capital Salvador.
The Bahia state government said at the time that BYD would build electric bus and truck chassis, as well as electric and hybrid cars, at three plants, and would also process Brazilian lithium for car battery exports to China.
"We have been in Brazil for almost 10 years. We have experienced many political changes in this period, in addition to exchange rate fluctuations, and inflation. But I think that in the long term, Brazil has its own advantages," Li said at the time.
BYD is now bringing its passenger cars to international markets, launching the Dolphin in Brazil on June 28, its fifth model in the country after the Tang EV, Han EV, Yuan Plus EV and Song Plus DM-i.
In addition to NEVs, BYD is already producing photovoltaic modules in Brazil.
On October 21, 2022, the company announced that BYD Energy Brazil's cumulative production of PV modules surpassed 2 million, after five years of local operations.
Last April, BYD opened a new PV module production line at its Campinas, Brazil, plant that is compatible with all sizes of PV cells currently on the market, allowing for increased productivity and efficiency.
($1 = 4.8412 reais)
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