Chinese EV maker BYD eyes state incentives for Mexico plant

MEXICO CITY :Chinese electric carmaker BYD has narrowed its list of finalists for the location of a manufacturing plant in Mexico down to three states, and has received a range of proposed incentives to build in each, the firm’s country head said on Wednesday.
BYD’s Mexico head Jorge Vallejo told Reuters that the incentives from states covered fiscal, land, management and preferential pricing benefits. He declined to name which states were finalists.
In April, Reuters exclusively reported that Mexico’s federal government had halted incentives to Chinese electric-vehicle makers under pressure from the United States.
BYD has previously said that its Mexico plant will not serve the U.S. market.
Vallejo, speaking after the unveiling of BYD’s plug-in Song Pro hybrid SUV in Mexico, said that the firm not yet identified which models would be produced at the Mexico plant.
BYD’s regional Americas chief Stella Li said in May that the plant would be “centrally located.”
Mexico’s northern Nuevo Leon state is an automotive hub, and set to be the location of a proposed Tesla mega-factory. It will also be home to a new Volvo plant, the state’s governor said earlier this week.
Meanwhile, the central Puebla state has long housed production by Volkswagen , and BMW makes electric vehicles in the nearby San Luis Potosi.
BYD’s Song Pro will start at 599,880 pesos ($31,146.42).
($1 = 19.2600 Mexican pesos)