American General Motors decided to get into the fight with the Chinese for the attention of the Brazilian consumer interested in purely electric entry cars. GM is already selling its Chevrolet Spark in the country for R $ 159,900.00, the cheapest electric electricity offered in the country. The vehicle will compete with BYD’s Dolphin, which in Brazil is in the same price range.
GM’s strategy is noteworthy: Spark is a Chinese car itself, the result of the partnership between GM and Chinese automakers Saic and Wuling. He is known in the Asian country as “Baojun Yep Plus”. Initially, the Sparks will be imported from China, but the news announced by GM last week is that the car will be set up in Brazil.
The ‘Brazilian’ Spark will be manufactured at the former Troller factory, which belonged to Ford. Ford acquired the Troller in 2007 and the unit, located in Horizonte, Ceará, produced the jeep T4 until the close of the brand’s activities in Brazil, in 2021.
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The unit was assumed by the Comexport Group, a Brazilian Foreign Trade Company, which uses the unit to set up vehicles of different brands, in a new business front. The unit was renamed Ceará’s automotive pole (Pace).
The factory will receive the Spark in kits previously mounted in China, known as Semi Knocked Down (in the SKD acronym). The manufacture should start at the end of this year and the expectation is to produce at least 400 units per month.
Advance in the electrification strategy
According to experts, Spark’s national assembly is an important advance of the Electrification GM strategy in Brazil strengthening its presence in the pure electrical segment, which is now dominated by Chinese brands.
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With local production, although with SKDS, GM is next to the GWM automakers, which has already inaugurated its unit in Iracemápolis, São Paulo, and BYD, which will also produce in an old Ford factory in Camaçari, Bahia. In practice, GM brought a model developed in China to compete with Chinese automakers in Brazil.
“This initiative represents the first step towards the industrialization of electrical technology under the Chevrolet brand in Brazil, expanding the offer of mobility solutions and strengthening the local supplier chain,” said General Motors in a statement.
