Latin American Auto Industry

Some analysts worry that the spread of Chinese-made EVs poses a risk to data protection laws such as Europe’s GDPR which sets out data privacy and security standards. Brazil has a similar law known by its Portuguese acronym LGPD. In the first four months of this year some 54,600 EVs were sold in Brazil representing a 7.5% market share. Chinese EV brands such as BYD, Great Wall Motor, Chery, and Zeekr are permanently internet-connected. JR Caporal, head of Brazilian auto-tech company Auto Avaliar, says the Chinese EVs are forcing a “structural reconfiguration of the market” based on innovation, economies of scale, and a planned industrial strategy. He says individual vehicles have become “digital databanks on wheels” but that at present there is a lack of transparency over how their data is used and stored.