China Car Giants Setting Up Shop in Brazil With Dreams of Dominating a Continent

Great Wall Motor, BYD and Chery Out to Reinvent the Way Latin America Drives

- Somini Sengupta

SÃO PAULO — A two-hour drive beyond the traffic jams of São Paulo, past the vast valleys of sugar cane, one of the first Chinese factories manufacturing battery-powered cars in the Americas is getting ready to open.

Its goal is to reinvent the way Brazil drives and, ultimately, the rest of Latin America, much as Chinese automakers have already done across much of Asia and want to do in Europe.

Until recently, the factory was run by German giant Mercedes-Benz. Today, it is owned by Great Wall Motor, one of China's leading exporters of stylish, affordable electric vehicles (EV).

The change of ownership reflects a profound disruption for one of the world's most vital industries. If American and European petrol-guzzling cars once dominated global tastes and trends, that era appears to be fast turning in China's favor.

Today, not only does China make and export more cars of all types than any other country in the world, but Chinese companies also dominate the global manufacture of battery-powered vehicles of the future. They also control the supply chain for virtually everything that goes into those cars.