Chinese carmaker BYD plans to build a new factory in Brazil within the next three years after rising demand for electric buses filled its existing production capacity and forced the company to redraw its manufacturing strategy in the country.
The project would sharply expand output, create hundreds of jobs and support exports across South America, with Africa also being considered, as BYD strengthens a business segment that predates its move into passenger electric vehicles.
BYD has assembled electric bus chassis in Campinas, Sao Paulo state, since 2015. Over nearly a decade, the plant produced about 600 chassis, a figure shaped by slow early adoption of electric buses, regulatory uncertainty and the disruption caused by the pandemic.
Advertisement
That trajectory is now set to change. Orders already secured mean BYD expects to manufacture around 1,200 chassis in 2026 alone, roughly double the total output of its first 10 years of operations in Brazil.
“Only in 2026 we will produce around 1,200 chassis,” said Marcelo Schneider, BYD Brazil’s director for commercial vehicles. “That is already more than what we produced in the last 10 years.”
Schneider said the increase reflects a delayed but concentrated wave of fleet replacement, particularly in Sao Paulo, where operators are now renewing buses that remained in service longer than planned during the pandemic.
