BYD targets annual output of 600,000 vehicles at Brazil plant once fully operational
Key Facts
BYD aims to raise annual production capacity at its plant in Camaçari, in Bahia state, to 600,000 vehicles once fully operational, after the company’s founder and chief executive, Wang Chuanfu, doubled the complex’s final target during the plant’s opening, according to Bahia’s Secretariat of Economic Development. The target follows the company’s designation of capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year for the complex’s first phase and 300,000 vehicles a year in a later phase. The announcement sets out a phased expansion path, from the capacity specified for the first phase to the full operating target. The government did not specify in its statement when the final capacity would be reached. State data highlight an industrial expansion proceeding alongside the construction of local production lines and the hiring of new workers.
The company is expanding the first phase by building stamping, welding and painting plants, according to an announcement by the Bahia government in February. The secretariat said the work would allow a significant increase in the share of locally manufactured content in vehicles produced at the complex. Operating those plants is part of a plan to expand local production that BYD announced in January 2026, alongside the launch of stamping, welding and painting lines. The government did not provide a timetable for completing the expansion work in its February announcement. The expansion aims, according to its statement, to increase the components and manufacturing processes carried out locally in vehicles coming off the line in Camaçari.
In March 2026, BYD announced it would hire an additional 3,000 workers at the complex, and the state government said the total workforce would exceed 6,000 once those hires were complete. The hiring announcement offers an indication of the size of the workforce tied to the industrial expansion underway in Camaçari. The government did not link the hiring to a specific production-capacity target, nor did it give a date for completing the hires in its statement. The secretariat said the new hiring would raise the workforce to more than 6,000, compared with the number before the announcement. The plant currently produces three models: the Dolphin Mini compact car, the King sedan and the Song Pro sport utility vehicle.
The plant recorded production of nearly 20,000 vehicles in 2025, according to the Bahia government, then resumed operations on 8 January 2026 after a holiday that began on 20 December. BYD announced in July 2026 that cumulative production in Camaçari had reached 100,000 vehicles, nine months after the first phase opened. These figures put actual output in the context of the announced first-phase capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year; however, they cover different periods and measures, as the July figure includes cumulative production since opening. The company did not break out the annual production rate when the 100,000-vehicle threshold was reached. The shift from first-year production to the later cumulative figure shows the growth in the plant’s activity since operations began.
Camaçari’s expansion comes against a mixed economic backdrop in China, though official data do not link that context to BYD’s decision in Brazil. China’s industrial output grew 5.5% year on year in September 2026, accelerating by 0.3 percentage points from the previous month, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. By contrast, actual use of foreign investment in China fell 4.3% year on year to 548.81 billion yuan from January to September 2026, while posting annual growth of 2.5% in September alone, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce. Actual use of foreign investment in high-tech industries rose 33.8% in the first nine months, accounting for 41.6% of the national total, the ministry said. The figures show differing performance between overall foreign investment and high-tech sectors, as the Brazilian plant continues its publicly announced phased expansion.