BYD announces BRL 3 billion for an electric car factory in BA – 07/04/2023 – Market

Chinese automaker BYD (Build Your Dreams) officially announced this Tuesday (4) the implementation of an industrial complex for the production of electric vehicles in Camaçari (50 km from Salvador) with an investment of R$ 3 billion.

In a festive act in front of Farol da Barra, in Salvador, with the participation of Olodum and Ilê Aiyê, the Chinese company celebrated the implementation of what will be the first electric car industry in Brazil. The expectation is to generate 5,000 new direct jobs, with 1,000 of them already in the first phase of operation of the factory, scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024.

The complex will consist of three factories. One will be dedicated to the production of electric and hybrid cars, with an estimated capacity of 150,000 units per year in the first phase, with a potential to reach 300,000 units.

The second plant will produce chassis for electric buses and trucks. The third industry will focus on processing lithium and iron phosphate and will serve the foreign market, using the port structure in Bahia.

“We’re not just talking about a factory. We’re talking about a new model, a concept that comes as a requirement of a new world, with renewable energies”, stated the governor of Bahia, Jerônimo Rodrigues (PT).

BYD’s executive vice-president and CEO for the Americas, Stella Li, defined the investment as a “landmark in the history of Brazil”.

“The new factories in Brazil will allow the introduction and acceleration of electromobility in the country, a key move to fight climate change”, he said.

The package of tax benefits offered by the government of Bahia to the Chinese automaker, similar to what was granted to Ford, includes a 95% reduction in ICMS (Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services).

This Tuesday, Governor Jerônimo Rodrigues also announced the exemption from IPVA (Tax on Motor Vehicle Ownership) for owners of electric cars worth up to R$ 300,000 produced in Bahia and which will circulate in the state.

BYD reiterated its intention to install the industrial complex in Camaçari (BA). There is an ongoing negotiation for the factories to occupy the site where the former Ford industrial complex operated, which ended its activities in Bahia in January 2021.

Rodrigues said that he is following the negotiations between the two companies and will make every effort for a positive outcome. But he highlighted that, even if the agreement does not materialize, the BYD industry will be implanted in Bahia: “We will find a way out”.

BYD advisor in Brazil, Alexandre Baldy said that there are no obstacles between the Chinese automaker and Ford and promised to announce a final decision in the next few days.

The official announcement of the factory was preceded by a meeting at the Planalto Palace between Stella Li and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) last week.

The possibility of the Chinese company settling in Bahia had already been speculated since the beginning of 2021, when the American automaker ended activities in the state. Last year, the government of Bahia confirmed the signing of a protocol of intentions with the automaker.

The Dolphin electric compact will be the Chinese brand’s first domestic car. The model arrives on the Brazilian market imported from China and costs from R$ 149,800 – which puts it among the most affordable in the segment in the country.

Autonomy can reach close to 400 kilometers, but the new rules established by Inmetro require a reduction of approximately 30% in this calculation. In this way, the Chinese brand claims that the car is capable of running 291 km with a full charge of its batteries.

BYD arrived in Brazil in 2015, when it opened its first 100% electric bus assembly plant in Campinas (SP). In 2017, it opened a second factory, also in Campinas, for the production of photovoltaic modules.

In order to supply the fleet of electric buses, in 2020 the company started operating its third factory in Brazil, in Manaus, dedicated to the production of lithium iron phosphate batteries. As a result, part of the component supply infrastructure is already in place.

BYD intends to take advantage of the supplier park established in the Camaçari region to accelerate the nationalization of future launches.

The closure of Ford’s productive activities in Brazil in 2021 left a trail of unemployment, a drop in industrial production and a cascading impact on the economy of Camaçari.

The city was home to the first car industry in the Northeast after a long political and fiscal battle in the 1990s and became a development hub in the following years.