The Chinese automobile manufacturer BYD will be its first electric car factory outside of Asia in Brazil build. A total of three billion reais (around 563 million euros) will be invested in this, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (78) announced on the X platform, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday evening (local time). This could create 10,000 jobs.
According to the Brazilian newspaper “O Globo”, work at the plant in the city of Camaçari in the state of Bahia in the northeast of the country is expected to begin in the next few weeks. The plant had previously belonged to the US automaker ford belonged and was closed at the beginning of 2021. “These are investments in the future of Brazil and in the transition to more modern, less polluting cars,” Lula said. Initially, 150,000 cars will be built per year, O Globo quoted BYD Brazil President Tyler Li as saying.
The Chinese car manufacturer BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, has recently enjoyed a rapid rise. The company initially built cell phone batteries, but the southern Chinese company has been in the car business since 2003 and has now become the largest electric car manufacturer in China, the most important vehicle market in the world. With more than 520,000 electric cars sold in the fourth quarter of 2023, the group even surpassed the US leader Tesla from the podium worldwide. However, over the year, the Americans were still ahead.
Elon Musk (52) sold a total of a good 1.8 million electric cars in 2023, while BYD sold almost 1.6 million electric cars. But the growth trend is currently quite clear: Tesla increased its sales figures by 38 percent compared to the previous year, while BYD increased its electric cars by around 73 percent.
BYD: On the road to success
The success of the Chinese is based on various factors, as an analysis by manager magazine shows using graphics:
Broad lineup: BYD has a significantly larger product range than Tesla, for example. While the Americans only sell four models, with the latest Model Y accounting for the lion’s share of sales, BYD has almost two dozen models on offer.
Professional management: BYD was ridiculed when it was launched around 20 years ago, and the first models sold poorly. But management quickly brought new know-how to the company, lowered prices and changed the design. In 2016, BYD hired Wolfgang Egger (60) as head of design, who previously worked forAudiand Alfa Romeo had been active. Other international executives were also poached, including the head of exterior design at Ferrari and a top interior designer at Mercedes-Benz.
Government support: Like all Chinese manufacturers, BYD has benefited from extensive government aid in recent years. In total, the industry in the People’s Republic was subsidized to the tune of up to $100 billion. This enabled the companies to build up high production capacities, which are now being used to drive expansion.