BYD commenced production at its Camaçari plant in Brazil today, its first EV plant outside China. Initially, three models will be assembled there, including the BYD Dolphin Mini (known as the Seagull in China), the Song Pro, and the King (BYD Qin Plus DM-i).
The SKD plant in the north-west state of Bahia has 26 warehouses, a test track and an annual capacity of 150,000 units. It is a former Ford plant that BYD acquired in March 2024 for R$300 million (55 million USD).
According to BYD, the company will invest R$5.5 billion (1 billion USD), of which R$1.4 billion has already been invested. The plant is supposed to create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs, the automaker says. In total, 1,000 workers already work at the Camaçari facility, and during the media event, BYD announced the opening of 3,000 additional vacancies.
It took 16 months to reconstruct the ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle plant into an EV plant. BYD will assemble both battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) in the facility.
The Camaçari plant operates as an SKD (semi-knock-down) kit. SKD means the carmaker partially disassembles a vehicle into significant components (such as the body, motor, and battery) and ships them to another country for final assembly. In this case, SKD is made in China and shipped to Brazil for final assembly.
BYD say it will use local stamping, welding, painting and peripheral components and push for further localisation of the production. For example, they have already entered into a partnership with Continental, which is expected to supply tires made in Brazil.
The plant launch coincided with Brazil’s hike in tariffs for all-electric vehicle imports from 18% to 25% and from 20% to 28% for PHEVs on the same day.
But the tax increase will be the same for SKD semi-dismantled vehicles. BYD is requesting a reduction to 10% for semi-dismantled cars, but there has yet to be a response from the government on this matter, according to a local outlet, Autoo.
In May 2025, Brazilian prosecutors sued BYD and two of its contractors, suspected of human trafficking and conditions “analogous to slavery” during factory reconstruction. The Public Labour Prosecutor’s Office (MPT) in the state of Bahia reported that 220 Chinese workers were rescued after it initiated an investigation in response to an anonymous complaint, according to the BBC.
On July 1, following the Brazilian plant launch, the car blogger 行稳致远2594 revealed that the Shanwei government approved BYD’s application for the expansion of their Shanwei plant for KD kits, which was approved on June 23. The plant is located about a two-hour drive east of Shenzhen, BYD’s hometown. The company is to invest 7.5 billion yuan into the plant to produce export-ready KD kits. Moreover, BYD started construction of another KD plant in Changzhou, Jiangsu.
BYD will produce one all-electric model in Brazil, the Dolphin Mini and two PHEVs, the Song Pro and King DM-i.
The BYD Dolphin Mini (Dolphin Surf in Europe) starts at R$118,800 (21,800 USD) with a 75 hp motor on the front axle and a 38.8 kWh LFP battery.
Source: Autoo
