BYD steps up activities in Mexico
Citing Mexico boss Jorge Vallejo, several media outlets reported that the details of BYD’s planned EV factory in Mexico, such as the exact location, will be made public in the current quarter. In June, it was already reported that BYD had received offers from 23 Mexican states for its planned factory and had already narrowed the selection down to three. BYD has not yet revealed further information on the matter.
According to Vallejo, the factory is expected to create some 10,000 jobs but has not specified whether these 10,000 people will all be employed directly by BYD or whether it is the total effect of the factory on local employment, which also includes jobs at contractors and suppliers.
Nevertheless, the BYD factory would be one of the largest car plants in Mexico. In an earlier report, Bloomberg compared it to the country’s current largest car plant, the Volkswagen factory in Puebla. 6,100 people work on the assembly lines there, in addition to 5,000 other employees at the plant and “thousands of people who handle parts assembly.”
Meanwhile, BYD wants to enter the Mexican market even before setting up local production. This year, the Chinese EV manufacturer plans to import around 50,000 vehicles to Mexico and sell them there – including hybrid vehicles such as the Shark pickup model, which BYD has been selling in Mexico since May. BYD hopes to double its sales in the country next year.
It is, of course, no coincidence that BYD wants to invest more in Mexico at this particular time. With the planned production plant, the Chinese carmaker is looking not only at the local market but also at the US and Canada. The US, Canada, and Mexico form the NAFTA free trade region, meaning BYD could import its cars built in Mexico into the US and Canada duty-free. BYDs built in China have recently been subject to a 100 per cent tariff when imported into the US, and Canada has now introduced the same tariff.
In June, BYD said that it would not come to the US as “it is very complicated.” Even so, the Chinese automotive giant did file a regulatory document in July with the Canadian federal and Ontario governments to “advise on matters related to the expected market entry of BYD into Canada for the sale of passenger electric vehicles, and the establishment of a new business, and the application of tariffs on EVs.”
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