{"id":60085432,"date":"2025-06-11T14:51:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T13:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?p=60085432"},"modified":"2025-06-11T14:51:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T13:51:45","slug":"is-byds-acceleration-a-win-for-latin-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/is-byds-acceleration-a-win-for-latin-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Is BYD\u2019s acceleration a win for Latin America?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A new world order is being contested in the electric vehicles sector. While the trade war between the United States and China rumbles on, the Chinese electric carmaker BYD has already pulled ahead in the race against its US counterpart Tesla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, BYD sold 4.2 million<\/a> electric and plug-in hybrid cars, more than any other company in the world, while achieving an annual revenue of CNY 777 billion<\/a> (USD 108 billion). Tesla, meanwhile, reported delivering 1.8 million<\/a> vehicles, and USD 97.7 billion<\/a> in revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BYD\u2019s 2025 first-quarter reporting indicates its \u201cnew energy vehicle\u201d sales grew by 60%<\/a> year-on-year. This has been driven in part by the launch of a new charging technology<\/a>, the Super e-Platform, which BYD claims can add 400 kilometres of range to a battery in just five minutes. At the time of writing, Tesla\u2019s Supercharger<\/a> network was offering approximately 75% of this range from a 15-minute charging time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In just a few years, BYD has gone from manufacturing batteries to putting China into pole position to lead on the future of mobility. Now, it is beginning doing so in Latin America, a region that still overwhelmingly runs on diesel and petrol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From batteries to electric cars<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BYD, sporadically<\/a> marketed as \u201cBuild Your Dreams\u201d, emerged in 1995, initially as a manufacturer of rechargeable batteries for mobile phones. In 2003, it made a decisive turn as the electric car market was taking off, acquiring the small Chinese car factory Xi\u2019an Qinchuan Automobile to design its own vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In just five years, it surprised the world with the launch of the F3DM<\/a>, which BYD says was the world\u2019s first plug-in hybrid<\/a>. By 2022, it had stopped making full-combustion engine vehicles to focus exclusively on electric and plug-in hybrids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BYD now has more than 30 industrial parks and operates in approximately 400 cities across over 70 countries. In February, founder Wang Chuanfu attributed BYD\u2019s success to its 110,000-strong engineering team: \u201cBehind every one of our technologies is innovation, behind every one is ecological development, and behind every one is the hard work of 110,000 engineers.\u201d Speaking during a Chinese national television interview<\/a>, he also claimed China\u2019s electric cars are three to five years ahead of their competitors \u201cin terms of products, technology and the industrial chain\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BYD models on display at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen, southern China. In June 2024, Peruvian president Dina Boluarte visited the carmaker\u2019s office during an official trip to China (Image: Presidencia Per\u00fa<\/a> \/ Flickr<\/a>, CC BY NC SA<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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BYD electric buses enter into the public transport system in Santiago, Chile, 2016. Almost a decade later, the Chinese company\u2019s strategy in the South American country is now focused on selling light cars and plug-in hybrids (Image: Mara Daruich<\/a> \/ Municipalidad de Santiago<\/a>, CC BY NC<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Betting big on Latin America<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The company reportedly wants to double its sales outside China to 800,000 units<\/a> during 2025. Its goal is for almost half of its cars to be sold abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cChinese companies are desperate to find new markets for their products and have moved very quickly in Latin America,\u201d says Ilaria Mazzocco, an expert on Chinese climate policy at Washington DC\u2019s Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). \u201cIt\u2019s something that the Chinese government has supported so far, but for the moment Latin America is not a substitute for the much larger European market,\u201d she tells Dialogue Earth. Since November, Chinese-made EVs have faced tariffs of up to 45%<\/a> in the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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BYD\u2019s presence is already noticeable in Brazil, where the company represents seven of every 10 electric cars sold, according to Associated Press<\/a>. Furthermore, BYD has been testing its influence by lobbying<\/a> the Brazilian government for lower import tariffs, which have been steadily rising<\/a> to encourage domestic electric vehicle manufacturing. The company has now acquired its first Brazilian production plant<\/a>, on the east coast in Bahia state, where production is currently set to start this month<\/a>. Operations had been delayed due to an investigation into severe labour abuses at the facility, for which the Brazilian prosecutors have sued the company<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Colombia<\/a>, BYD leads the electric vehicle market, accounting for a 42.5% share in 2024, according to<\/a> the Latin American Association of Automotive Distributors (ALADDA). The government is promoting<\/a> this transition with the National Electric Mobility Strategy, which seeks to put 600,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2030. BYD already assembles electric buses in Colombia, and is reportedly considering setting up a plant to assemble cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During 2024, BYD sold 40,000 units<\/a> in Mexico, a figure it plans to double this year. Part of its strategy includes building a plant with the capacity to produce more than 150,000 vehicles per year. However, the project is stalled as Beijing is reportedly assessing the risks of BYD\u2019s smart car technology being leaked across the border into the United States, according to the United Kingdom\u2019s Financial Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere, BYD leads sales in Ecuador<\/a> with more than 47% of the electric vehicle market according to the ALADDA. In Peru<\/a>, it hopes to claim 50% of its hybrid and all-electric vehicles market by 2025. In Argentina<\/a>, meanwhile, the brand has just announced its launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA few years ago, its focus was on urban transport: electric buses in Chile<\/a> and Colombia<\/a>,\u201d explains Jose Luis Torres De La Piedra, an expert in electromobility and former BYD Peru sales manager. \u201cNow, there is a redefinition of the strategy. Their priority is light cars and plug-in hybrids.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n