The Chinese automotive giant BYDworld number one in production and sale of electric vehicles, confirmed that it will arrive in Argentina during the second half of the year.
This was announced by his Global Vice President Stella Li, in an exclusive interview in Italy with the journalist Matías Antico, of TN Autos. “Argentina is now an open market, and that’s why we decided to enter,” Li said.
Byd will enter the country under the new regime promoted by the government that exempts from paying import tariff to those hybrid and electric vehicles with a FOB cost (in your country of origin) less than $ 16,000.
“It is that in recent years the policy did not favor business, there was too much inflation, credibility problems and an impossibility of transferring money; there were no conditions to launch the brand,” Li confessed to TN cars justifying the delay to operate in Argentina, one of the few Latin American markets where Byd models are not yet sold.
It is worth remembering that the Chinese brand established its headquarters in Argentina a couple of years ago but never started sales.
The executive also said that the company will operate in the country Without intermediariesand that they are already preparing a Network of concessionaires to provide coverage in different regions of the country. At the same time, he anticipated that, if necessary, he could invest in a recharge network by the hand of a partner.
Byd plans to disembark in the third quarter with three fully electrified models; On the one hand the electric Dolphin Mini y Dolphin; and on the other the plug -in hybrid Song Pro.
The first is a five -door city that measures 3.78 meters long and has an autonomy of 280 kilometers; The second is a compact 4.29 meters long that can travel up to 291 kilometers; And the third is a medium SUV (4.73 meters), which can circulate up to 68 kilometers in electric mode.
The brand considers importing some 1,300 units In a first batch. The cars will arrive from China, even though in a month Inaugurate Su Plant Brasileña de Camaçari (The first outside Asia), in the state of Bahia.
The factory, which belonged to Ford and in which Byd made investments by 1,000 million dollars From 2023, it will have a production capacity of 150,000 units a yearAlthough Byd anticipated that the building used by the American automaker will only be destined for local suppliers.
The Chinese brand, which is a furor in Brazil, aims to reach 70% of local components, including batteries (which would be produced in another complex). In a first stage, production will be intended to supply the domestic market.
On the other hand, the Vice President of Byd said that at the moment the brand does not have in its plans to add other models, nor install a local plant to produce chassis of electric buses or some components, as spoken in the past.
“That was a past project. At the moment we have no intention of setting up a plant in the country,” Li told Tn Autos.
In a few years Byd managed to get along with Tesla, Elon Musk’s famous brand. To take dimension of its sales volumes, just mention that in 2024 it commercialized 3.8 million vehicles, of which 1.8 million were electric.