GreenergyDaily

May. 13, 2025

1. Chinese electric car maker BYD's factory in Brazil will be "fully functional" by December 2026, after its operations were delayed because of an investigation into labor abuses, Bahia state labor secretary Augusto Vasconcelos said in a video on Monday.

2. By the end of this year, the factory should start producing cars from semi-finished kits, he added.

3. "A new schedule is being established so that by December 2026 the factory will be fully functional with the expectation of generating 10,000 jobs," said Vasconcelos in the video published to social media.

4. The news comes as Bahia Governor Jeronimo Rodrigues travels to China with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, discussing plans for BYD and the auto industry, Vasconcelos said.

5. The plant was expected to have started making cars in Brazil at the beginning of this year, but delays involving the labor probe and heavy rains affected the timeline, said Julio Bonfim, head of the metalworkers union of Camaçari, Bahia.

6. To assemble the vehicles from the imported kits from China, BYD is set to hire around 1,000 workers in Brazil this year, Bonfim told Reuters, far short of the 10,000 the Chinese firm first promised.

7. Throughout the project, BYD estimates that it will create 20,000 jobs directly and indirectly, said the firm.