“We prefer to buy any available and affordable resource, but it needs to be competitive,” Li said at an interview in Sao Paulo. “At the same time, BYD also prefers to own some mining operations in Brazil.”
Latin America has emerged as a hotspot for carmakers seeking to tap metals used in EVs as the industry shifts from fossil fuels.
Stellantis and miner Rio Tinto Group are upping their investments in a giant copper deposit in Argentina, while Ford Motor recently closed an agreement with Chile’s lithium producer SQM.
In Brazil’s northeast, BYD will invest 3 billion reais (US$594 million) to build its first EV plant outside Asia and will include a research and development centre to advance technologies for a flex-fuel hybrid engine. Its Chinese competitor Great Wall Motor plans to start making its first pre-series EV models in the country in May of next year.
“We are gonna build up this plant fast,” said Li. “We need to make sure in the future all cars we sell here are 100 per cent produced here. BYD will become like a Brazilian company.”
