Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD is anticipating strong sales growth in Mexico in 2025.
Jorge Vallejo, BYD’s general director in Mexico, said Tuesday that the Shenzhen-based company expects to sell 50,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in Mexico this year and 100,000 in 2025.
He outlined the projections at the BloombergNEF forum in Monterrey, Nuevo León.
Sales of EVs, and Chinese-made vehicles, have recently increased in Mexico.
Vallejo also said Tuesday that BYD will announce the location of its planned Mexico plant by the end of the year.
He said that the plant will manufacture 150,000 vehicles annually in a first phase of operations, before increasing production to 300,000 in a second phase.
Earlier this year, Mexico imposed new tariffs on hundreds of products from China and other countries with which it doesn’t have trade agreements. EVs are among those products.
Reuters recently reported that BYD was seeking an extension of tariff relief for its imports in Mexico, as “a decree exempting some 15% to 20% of tariff payments on EVs imported from countries with which Mexico does not have a trade agreement” was set to expire at the end of October. It was unclear whether that extension was granted.
What has BYD said about its proposed Mexico plant?
- The automaker confirmed in February that it would open a plant in Mexico. BYD’s Americas CEO Stella Li said that the plant would only make vehicles for the Mexican market.
- Vallejo said in June that BYD’s proposed operations in Mexico will create around 10,000 jobs.
- Vallejo said in August that the company had narrowed the list of potential locations for the plant to three states.
- In September, Li rejected a Bloomberg News report that said the company had postponed a final decision about its proposed plant in Mexico until after the United States presidential election. Vallejo had previously said that the company was aiming to settle on a location for its plant by the end of the year.
With reports from Reuters
