SAO PAULO — China’s automakers took South America by storm and set local records for electric car (EV) sales in 2025 throughout the region’s fast-growing market, while Tesla Inc has been virtually absent from the vast majority of the countries here. The boom stretches across Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, according to a Reuters analysis. Nov. 17, 2025.
Here’s how they do it: a combination of prices, logistics, and local assembly. Chinese models are often significantly cheaper, imports are speeding through Peru’s new Chancay port, and in a bid to mitigate the effects of sky-high tariffs, BYD is starting to assemble cars in Brazil. Electrified sales in Peru soared 44% from a year earlier through September, and Chinese brands lead rankings in Chile and Uruguay.
Brazil’s size is the clincher: the country is expected to surpass 200,000 electrified light-vehicle sales in 2025, emphasizing Latin America’s accelerating momentum, according to industry forecasts. Finance packages and expanding dealer networks from Chinese manufacturers are drawing first-time buyers away from capital cities.
Tesla’s footprint remains limited. Although it opened its first store in South America in 2024, in Santiago, the company has so far not developed a comprehensive sales or service network throughout the continent. That void has created room for BYD, Geely, GWM, and others to scale up rapidly with low-cost models and aggressive retail pushes.
That surge builds on years of work. Chile early on pointed the way forward for the region when, in 2018, Enel financed a major roll-out of BYD e-buses—a direction that foreshadowed consumer EV uptake and charging build-outs across Santiago’s public transportation system. Policy continuity ensued: Chile has new aspirations to achieve 100% zero-emission light- and medium-duty sales by 2035, according to its National Electromobility Strategy.
With Tesla outlining plans for large factories, and European manufacturers opening their own facilities in Brazil and elsewhere, it is now the last major region that EV makers are eyeing for growth. And sales of electric vehicles look set to keep climbing this year, even as demand slows in other regions, say analysts. For now, Chinese brands lead the charge, and — outside of Chile — Tesla’s small footprint continues to dictate how the market develops, with or without it.
