[2022-11-03] BYD wants the Ford factory to make batteries and electric cars in Brazil

Source: Permanent Secretariat to the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao)

Chinese car brand BYD has signed a letter of intent with the State Government of Bahia, Brazil, to manufacture electric cars, buses and trucks at the former Ford plant in Camaçari, which closed in 2021.

According to the Bahian government, BYD will invest R$3 billion and generate 1,200 direct jobs to install three new assembly lines dedicated to electric and hybrid vehicles.

The implementation of the new lines should start in the middle of 2023, and the installations will be completed in 2025. The two assembly lines are scheduled to start operating in the period between the end of 2024 and the beginning of the following year, in which production of batteries with lithium and iron phosphate processing units is planned, as well as chassis for electric buses and electric trucks and electric and hybrid passenger vehicles.