Chinese Electric Vehicle Companies Expand Their Base... "To Europe, To South America"

Chinese electric vehicle companies are accelerating efforts to expand their presence in overseas markets. They are turning their attention to the European and South American markets in response to the slowing domestic growth.

According to China's Xinhua News Agency on the 5th, BYD, China's largest electric vehicle manufacturer, is building a large-scale production complex consisting of three factories in Salvador, northeastern Brazil. The investment amount is reported to be about 3 billion Brazilian reais (approximately 807.3 billion KRW).

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

This factory is expected to mainly produce electric vehicles and process lithium iron phosphate batteries. Operations are scheduled to begin in the second half of 2024, and it is anticipated that more than 5,000 local jobs will be created.

The complex is located on a site previously used by Ford as a factory, which was closed in 2021. It is about 50 km from Salvador, the capital of Bahia state. Subsequently, Brazilian authorities decided to provide incentives to BYD to establish an electric vehicle production hub locally. BYD established a branch in Brazil in 2014. So far, it has sold electric forklifts, vans, trucks, and passenger cars, and is managing two railway projects in El Salvador and S?o Paulo.

China’s state-owned automaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC) has entered the European market. According to local media such as China First Financial, SAIC recently decided to build a factory in Europe and is currently working on selecting a suitable site. However, specific details about the scale of the establishment or the start of operations have not been disclosed.

According to SAIC, overseas sales in the first quarter increased by 40% year-on-year to 530,000 units. Last year’s sales reached 1,017,000 units, up 45.9% from the previous year. Among these, more than 100,000 units were sold in Europe, and this year it is expected to exceed 200,000 units. Wei, President of SAIC’s Global Division, explained, "We had previously planned to build a factory in Europe if we sold more than 100,000 vehicles annually there. We achieved this goal last year, and this year the establishment of a European factory has become an agenda item."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.