The resurrection of the former Ford plant represents the grand industrial ambitions of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, widely known as Lula. (Ford says talks are continuing.) When the plant opens as expected later this year, it will be BYD’s most extensive electric-vehicle operation outside Asia. BYD is wrapping up negotiations with Ford to buy the shut-down factory in Camaçari, about 30 miles north of Salvador, the state capital of Bahia. Those initials stand for “Build Your Dreams,” a phrase that very much reflects the hopes of Sousa and hundreds of his idled former co-workers. The new economic power in town is China-and its largest electric-vehicle maker, BYD Co. Today, Sousa hopes he can, no thanks to Ford. But then, “out of nowhere, came the silence. When my children were born, I was at Ford-all my good memories are somehow connected to Ford,” says Sousa, now 39. Sousa started the work, but memories of colleagues flooded his mind. Ford had a final ask: Could Sousa join a crew of 10 to perform the industrial equivalent of the last rites? They’d dismantle, piece by piece, the same equipment they’d once installed and maintained, so it could be packed up and shipped away. On a recent weekday, a lone security car patrols its perimeter, the only sign of life.Īllison Barreto Sousa, a Ford maintenance technician for almost two decades, remembers when the company decided two years ago to shut down the plant, along with its entire operations in Brazil. plant that covers 1.8 square miles-an area larger than New York’s Central Park. Shift workers once packed these spaces, next to a Ford Motor Co. (Bloomberg Markets) - On Brazil’s east coast, the vast parking lot off Avenida Henry Ford sits empty.
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