In 2019, Luis Zwiebach, a green energy entrepreneur from Peru, flew 4,000 miles to California to test drive a Tesla Model 3 sedan because he intended to purchase an electric car.
However, Tesla was unable to circumvent Peru's intricate car import regulations and lacked an approved importer. He was unfazed. "There was a gentleman who had already imported one and wanted to sell it," Zwiebach explained. "So I went to see it, and I bought it."
At first, it was challenging to charge the Tesla at his friend's beach villa outside of Lima. "The car wouldn't charge because there was no grounding device," he stated. "We grabbed a fork, stuck it into the soil to make a ground and the car charged."
Nowadays, getting an EV in Peru is not that difficult. Although Tesla still doesn't have a showroom, heritage manufacturers like Toyota, Kia, and Hyundai, as well as Chinese models from companies like BYD, Geely, and GWM, which sell electric cars here for around 60% of the price of a Tesla, have increased. A request for comment from Tesla was not answered.
Chinese automakers are expanding their presence in South America with both conventional cars and electric vehicles. Although they still make up a small portion of the 135,394 new cars sold in Peru in the nine months leading up to September, EV sales are increasing, according to the nation's automobile association. During that time, sales of electric and hybrid cars reached a record 7,256 units, up 44% over the previous year.
Since the Port of Chancay, north of Lima, opened last year, China has increased its sales. Trans Pacific shipping delays have been cut in half by the Chinese built megaport, coinciding with increased trade restrictions in Europe and growing entrance barriers for Chinese manufacturers in the United States.
By the end of this year, BYD, a manufacturer of electric vehicles, plug in hybrids, and cars with internal combustion engines, intends to open a fourth dealership in Lima, whereas Chery and Geely now have over a dozen in Peru. "The electric car is doing very well here, more than two new cars are sold every day," Zwiebach reported from Lima.
He claimed that growing demand had motivated him to grow his renewable energy company, providing solar panels, regenerative elevators, and EV charger installations to clients in Lima and Arequipa, including retail malls, universities, and real estate developers.
"A property developer told me he'd buy the penthouse if it came with a car charger," Zwiebach stated. That's what we did, then. Like a phone, you simply plug it in at home.
In addition to a growing surplus of new automobiles coming off Chinese assembly lines, Chinese automakers must contend with a domestic price war that destroys their profits.
Global automotive expert Felipe Munoz of JATO Dynamics claims that a large portion of this excess is being exported to the Middle East, Central Asia, and Latin America.
According to Martin Bresciani, president of Chile's automotive business chamber, CAVEM, the Chinese have "carved out space," both for gasoline powered and electric vehicles.
"The Chinese have already demonstrated that they match global standards in quality." In Chile, Chinese brands accounted for 29.6% of all new passenger car sales during the first quarter of this year.
According to the International Energy Agency's Global EV Outlook 2025, EV penetration in Latin America, including Mexico and Central America, increased to over 4% in 2024 and is still rising thanks to government incentives and an influx of reasonably priced Chinese models.
According to local auto organizations and consulting firms, EV market share reached record highs of 10.6% of new cars registered in Chile in September, 9.4% in Brazil in August, and 28% in Uruguay in the third quarter of the year.
By the middle of 2025, half of all new automobiles registered in China and Europe were electric vehicles (51% and 56%, respectively). The rates were lower in the United States and Japan, closer to 10% and 2%, respectively.
EV sales are growing from a low base even in Argentina, where trade obstacles are stronger and economic challenges continue. In October, BYD, the biggest automaker in China, made its debut in Argentina. In Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Uruguay, the company now holds the top spot in sales of electric vehicles.
According to seven dealerships Reuters spoke with in Peru, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina, China has been successful in part by collaborating with reliable local importers to provide more reasonably priced models catered to local preferences.
This change is most evident in Uruguay, where BYD is the third largest seller overall, only surpassed by General Motors Hyundai and Chevrolet. Since 2023, China's market share in the nation has more than doubled to 22%.
A few years ago, premium automobile dealer Gonzalo Elgorriaga started showcasing BYD models at the entrance to Punta del Este, a glamorous seaside resort town in Uruguay. Although he continues to market Japanese and European goods, BYD now controls the majority of sales.
"The Chinese struck first and struck hard," Elgorriaga told Reuters from his Stars Motors business, which has a view of Mansa beach.
According to him, Chinese brands have grown in size and validity. They work with nearby banks to provide prize draws and credit lines. Their attractiveness is also largely due to their competitive prices. Chinese battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from BYD start at $19,000 in Uruguay.
"For the cost of two conventional brands, I can purchase three Chinese pickup trucks. Federico Guarino, another Uruguayan auto salesman, remarked, "That's a significant difference."
The coastal eateries that formerly welcomed weekend tourists to the peaceful fishing hamlet of Chancay, Peru's megaport constructed under China's Belt and Road Initiative, have been replaced by rows of white limousines and piles of multicolored containers.
"Each ship brings 800 to 1,200 vehicles," Gonzalo Rios, deputy manager of the port operator Cosco Shipping, told Reuters in October. By the end of the year, Cosco anticipates that 19,000 vehicles will have arrived from China.
The cars that come here are coming from outside of Peru. In September, Cosco Shipping sent 250 cars south to Chile, where Chinese brands accounted for 33% of the total automobile market in July, completing its first vehicle transshipment by water. Last week, there was another transshipment of EVs and hybrids to Chile.
In an effort to establish Peru as a regional distribution center for conventional, electric, and hybrid Chinese automobiles, Cosco has also directed shipments to Ecuador and Colombia, according to Rios.
According to the company, China's Chery, which accounted for less than 2% of Peru's EV market in September, is already utilising the corridor to speed up deliveries throughout the continent.
According to Peruvian customs data, the number of cars that arrived at the port increased from 839 in January to 3,057 in July alone. The Chinese sales push has produced some conflict abroad, most notably in Brazil, although Peru does not have a large scale auto manufacturing industry to complain about.
Brazil's trade restrictions encourage local production, thus several Chinese companies are investing in factories there. Great Wall Motors (GWM) started partial production in August in a former Mercedes Benz factory, while BYD started assembling EVs in October at Ford's former plant in Bahia.
The company plans to start exporting cars from its Brazil factory to the region by 2027 possibly earlier by taking advantage of advantageous trade agreements with Mexico, Chile, and the South American trade bloc Mercosur, according to Ricardo Bastos, director of Institutional Affairs at GWM Brazil and president of the nation's EV association, ABVE.
"Brazil was the third country to receive a (GWM) factory after Russia and Thailand it's a strategic decision, showing the strength Latin America has," Bastos stated in a telephone interview.
Brazil is also importing a lot of Chinese automobiles. According to Reuters calculations, the largest car carrying ship in the world docked at Brazil's Itajai port earlier this year with almost 22,000 automobiles.
Industry and labor organizations in Brazil claim that rather than investing in the construction of Brazilian factories and the creation of jobs, China is using the momentarily low tariff barriers for EVs in the largest automobile market in South America to increase its exports.
Reports of unfavourable working conditions for certain employees at BYD's new Bahia factory have also drawn criticism. Since then, the administration has taken action to reinstate import taxes.
The on site facilities would be crucial, according to Bastos of GWM, because tariffs on foreign EVs started to reappear last year and are expected to reach 35% by July 2026.
Brazil may soon become a regional distribution hub similar to Chancay. Currently, the port of Vitoria, located on the southeast Atlantic coast of Brazil, is the country's top importer of automobiles.
Stephen Deng, BYD's country manager for Argentina, told Reuters in October that the company anticipated Brazilian arrivals in 2027. "I think we could eventually see Argentina adopting the same EV rates that we see in Brazil," Deng stated.
Long distances and inconsistent charging infrastructure continue to be obstacles to EV adoption in South America, according to Bresciani, president of Chile's automobile sector lobby.
"If you want to travel the entire Peruvian coast from Tumbes to Tacna, it's difficult," Zwiebach stated. "But the car costs less to run and never needs to go to the service garage."
