Brazil’s Senate has recently passed Mover, the government’s new program to produce safer and less polluting cars. First introduced through a presidential decree in December, the program prompted Great Wall Motor (GWM), one of the top ten Chinese electric vehicle automakers, to change its plans for Brazil.
GWM officially announced its intentions to establish itself in the country in late 2021, upon completing the acquisition of a former Mercedes-Benz factory in São Paulo state. At the turn of that year, the Chinese firm said it intended to invest CNY 11.5 billion (USD 1.59 billion) in the country and start local production in the second half of 2023, creating 2,000 jobs. The first model to be produced in Brazil was set to be a pickup truck named Poer — but these plans were reviewed in the face of Mover.
The automaker decided to postpone the factory inauguration from May to the second half of this year, and to reduce the plant’s capacity expansion from 100,000 vehicles per month to 80,000 — the former Mercedes-Benz factory originally produced 20,000 cars per month.
“We’re working to start production in 2024. We have several teams dedicated to this,” Thiago Sugahara, institutional relations and ESG manager at GWM, told The Brazilian Report last week — before the automaker’s decision to close its headquarters in Europe came to light. He said he could not provide specific dates but that the idea is to open the Brazilian factory “as soon as possible.”
Through Mover, manufacturers can generate tax credits that can be deducted from...
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