Chinese automaker BYD today inaugurated its factory in Camaçari, Bahia, just over two years after purchasing the facilities where Ford previously produced the EcoSport sports utility vehicle. The “rebirth” of a factory that had been deactivated when Ford, at the beginning of 2021, during the Jair Bolsonaro government, announced the end of production in Brazil, was highlighted in speeches and provided ammunition for attacks on the opposition.
After hearing from the mayor of Camaçari, Luiz Carlos Caetano, that the previous government did not pull any punches to stop Ford, the Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, said that the deputies who yesterday overturned the provisional alternative measure to the IOF were the same ones who, four years ago, celebrated the closure of Ford.
“The same group that voted yesterday in the Chamber of Deputies against Brazil is the group that silently celebrated the “, declared Costa.
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The senior vice president and head of commercial and marketing in Brazil, Alexandre Baldy, said that the location, which was previously a “symbol of uncertainty” and an abandoned industrial complex, has become a hub of “innovation, technology, employment and hope”.
“BYB has always believed that where there is empty space, there can be a future. And we saw here, not ruins, but potential. We did not see abandonment, but a possibility”, declared the executive.
Baldy highlighted that the investment in Camaçari is proof that Brazil “can and will” lead the sustainable mobility revolution. R$5.5 billion was invested in the factory, which starts with an initial production capacity of 150,000 cars per year, which could increase to 300,000 vehicles in a second stage.
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In Camaçari, BYD completes the production of cars that are brought partially assembled from China. Purely electric and hybrid cars are coming out of the new factory. According to Baldy, the company invested almost R$80 million to make the engine of hybrid cars flexible – that is, it runs on both ethanol and gasoline.
BYD CEO for the Americas and Europe, Stella Li, highlighted that the factory’s inauguration ceremony is the celebration of the beginning of a new era in the Brazilian automotive industry. “Not just electric cars, but smart cars, built by Brazilians, built by Bahians,” he declared.
*the reporter traveled at the invitation of BYD
