Latin American Auto Industry

Western consumer attitudes have often been sceptical of Chinese vehicle brands which are seen to score poorly on vehicle and passenger safety. For this reason, many sales executives promoting Chinese cars welcomed an announcement late last year that the BYD Dolphin had become the first electric vehicle to win a five-star rating in the Latin NCAP crash and safety test, allowing it to claim to be the safest car in its category in Latin America. Latin NCAP stands for Latin New Car Assessment Programme, an independent, non-profit organisation that assesses car safety. The Dolphin has seven airbags and comes with an ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) as standard. The car scored highest for child occupant safety, followed by adult safety, pedestrian protection, and vulnerable road users’ safety. Latin NCAP said that the model tested, Dolphin Plus, “showed, in general, good performance with stable structure and footwell areas, and adequate to good adult chest protection in the frontal impact”.