BYD is rapidly localising its Brazil supply chain to target market leadership in vehicle sales by 2030.
Chinese automaker BYD aims to source and produce half of the components used in vehicles made at its new Brazilian factory locally by the end of 2026, as it steps up efforts to deepen its presence in Latin America, a senior executive told Reuters.
Senior Vice President Alexandre Baldy said BYD is moving as quickly as possible to build a local supply chain, with the goal of becoming Brazil’s largest carmaker by sales volumes by 2030. The company has set a deadline of 1 January 2027 to reach 50% local content, covering both in house production and parts supplied by Brazilian firms, including tyres.
The comments come amid concerns from local industry and labour groups that BYD has relied heavily on imported vehicles and benefited from temporarily low tariffs. Baldy said the Camacari plant in Bahia, BYD’s largest market outside China, is expanding rapidly to meet localisation targets.
Since October, BYD has produced about 25,000 electric and hybrid vehicles at the former Ford manufacturing complex, which spans more than four million square metres. The factory currently assembles vehicles from semi knocked down kits under an import tax exemption that has just expired. BYD plans to seek a temporary extension of the quota through mid year, describing the SKD model as a transitional arrangement.
Rising local content would help meet regulatory requirements and allow BYD to begin exporting from Brazil to neighbouring Mercosur markets as early as this year, Baldy said.
Local stamping, welding and painting facilities are nearing completion as part of BYD’s initial 5.5 billion reais investment, which aims to lift annual capacity to 300,000 vehicles. The site currently employs about 5,000 workers.
