A former Ford plant in Brazil was sold to the state of Bahia back in 2023 after the automaker ceased its manufacturing operations in that country, which will soon become a major EV hub. For some time now, Chinese automaker BYD has been in the process of completely renovating that site, with plans to begin production there this year. However, those plans hit a bit of a snag when Brazilian labor authorities claimed that they found hundreds of Chinese nationals working in “slavery-like conditions”, which BYD denied. Now, production at the former Ford plant is officially underway.
As recently as May, BYD stated that the EV plant wouldn’t be fully operational until 2026, but now, it’s already churning out vehicles, according to Car News China. For now at least, BYD will be producing three different models at the EV plant, which is that kind first outside of China – the Dolphin Mini (or Seagull as it’s known in China), the Song Pro, and the King. Soon, those EVs will be joined by a pair of plug-in hybrid models on the assembly line as well – the Song Pro PHEV and King DM-i.
BYD purchased the former Ford plant for R$300 million ($55 million USD), and has spent 16 months working to renovate it since. The site now has 26 warehouses, a test track, and an annual capacity of 150,000 units. To date, the automaker has invested R$1.4 billion in the plant, but once it’s fully finished, that investment is expected to grow to R$5.5 billion, or around $1 billion USD. It’s also expected to create 10,000 total jobs – both direct and indirect – with 1,000 employees already on site.
BYD’s global surge has happened quite quickly, propelling it to the top five in terms of the world’s best-selling automakers in a very short time. In Brazil, the company just began selling vehicles in 2021, and has sold 130,000 units since then – which includes 20,000 EVs in Q2 2025 alone.
Comments
BYD’s investment and growth plan is back by the $$$ of the Chinese government. That is how they’ve found the capitol to grow as quickly as they have. They plan on dominating this new emerging technology market, and so far are leading the way. If this goes on unabated, the U.S. and other international markets will be hard pressed to compete. In addition, China hold large critical mineral stores that help unimped this growth.
Brazil is in South America, so this is an American production. Trump’s tariffs cannot stop this! We were warned.
Trump said United States! nice try smart pants
So I bought a 2500 HD Silverado and spent over $ 10,000.00 on a Duramax Diesel and an Allison Transmission. The problem is its not an Allison transmission and was not designed or built by Allison. It was built by a joint venture between GM and Ford. Won’t you please join me in starting a class action law suit for purposely be misled and fraudulently be charged for this inferior transmission that is already experiencing design flaws.
How many times you going to post this?
In a class action, attorneys get most of the proceeds and the owners get a gift certificate.