BYD plans to double Camaçari to 600,000 cars a year and export to Mexico and Argentina

BYD has begun the process of doubling capacity at its Camaçari plant in Bahia to 600,000 vehicles a year, the company said on October 23, according to Xinhua. The plant, opened in October 2025 on a former Ford site, is in the final phase of construction and testing of stamping, welding and painting.

BYD Brazil senior vice-president Alexandre Baldy said the automaker receives about 30,000 orders a month in the country, while output should reach 25,000 cars a month by end-2026, leaving 5,000–6,000 sales unmet. The company has invested more than R$5.5 billion in the plant, employs about 9,000 people and expects 10,000 by year-end.

BYD wants to exceed 50% local content in early 2027, which would qualify it as a local manufacturer and expand exports. The Brazilian unit has orders for 50,000 vehicles from Mexico and 50,000 from Argentina, which it expects to start fulfilling in 2027. In September BYD registered 22,209 vehicles in Brazil (8.5% of the market) and aims to be the country’s largest automaker by volume by 2030.

CSP take: the local-content race opens a window for Brazilian parts suppliers and for Chinese suppliers willing to produce in Brazil. Component importers should map which items BYD still brings from China and which it plans to localise. This reading is ours, not BYD’s.