• The new BYD Shark plug-in hybrid pickup truck has been presented for the Mexican market.
Chinese automaker BYD (which stands for Build Your Dream), the largest manufacturer of electric vehicles in China, has just unveiled a pickup truck for the Mexican market. This came on Tuesday, the same day that President Joe Biden announced a series of new tariffs aimed at Chinese products, including electric vehicles.
The pickup just unveiled in Mexico City takes the name Shark and is in a plug-in hybrid configuration. The model is destined for several markets around the world, but in North America, distribution will be limited to Mexico for the time being.
If offered in the United States, it would be subject to a 100-percent tariff, as decreed today by the White House.
This is why BYD plans to choose a site in Mexico to build a factory with a capacity to produce 150,000 vehicles a year. The automaker wants to settle on a location by the end of this year, with operations starting within two to three years. Through Mexico, the company could launch its pickup truck on American soil, avoiding tariffs. Things could change with the new U.S. legislation, however.
The plant will be built in central Mexico, said Stella Li, head of the Americas for BYD, according to Reuters.
Note that this is the first time the company has launched a new product outside its home country. BYD is the world’s biggest automaker, gaining that title from overtaking Tesla in terms of EV production in the last quarter of 2023.
BYD chose Mexico because of the country's rapidly growing demand for trucks, explained Stella Li.
There’s also the proximity of the US market to consider, but also the fact that Chinese brands account for some 87 percent of electric vehicle sales in South America, and 20 percent in Mexico.
