Brazil: Ford factory in Bahia may be transferred to China’s BYD, says governor

The governor of Bahia, Jerônimo Rodrigues (PT), confirmed on Monday (27) that he is negotiating with Chinese automaker BYD to retake the old Ford plant in Camaçari, deactivated in 2021.

The information was given in a post on Twitter after the Minister of Labor, Luiz Marinho, advanced the negotiation.

On Saturday (25), Marinho said that the government would negotiate the “resumption of Ford in Bahia, thus reheating important industrial centers in the Northeast,” but without mentioning BYD by name.

The PT governor reinforced the confirmation on Sunday (26) and Monday (27).

According to him, the conclusion of the negotiations should occur during the visit of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to China at the end of March.

“Yesterday [Sunday, 26], I commented here that, in Lula’s trip to China, one of the subjects may be the negotiation of the use of the old Ford factory, in Camaçari, for the production of electric cars. This is, for sure, a positive sign for the economic recovery of our Bahia. […] The resumption of industrial activity here will be a gain for Bahia and the Northeast,” he said.

Rodrigues said that the closure of Ford’s operations in the Camaçari plant “ended with almost 5,000 job openings”, affecting the state’s generation of jobs and resources.

Besides the city in Bahia, the automaker also suspended the activities in the plants of Taubaté (SP) and Troller in Horizonte (CE), claiming that the Covid-19 pandemic increased the “persistent idle capacity of the industry and the reduction of sales, resulting in years of significant losses,” they said at the time.

In mid-October last year, the then-governor of Bahia, Rui Costa (PT), said on social media that he had signed a protocol of intent with BYD to install three electric vehicle factories in the state.

The automaker confirmed the document but said there were still pending issues under analysis.

With information from Gazeta do Povo