Latest news with #Vasconcelos
TimesLIVE
13-05-2025
- Automotive
- TimesLIVE
BYD delays full operations at Brazilian EV plant to end of 2026
Chinese electric car maker BYD's new factory in Brazil will be "fully functional" by December 2026 after its operations were delayed because of an investigation into labour abuses, Bahia state labour secretary Augusto Vasconcelos said in a video on Monday. By the end of this year, the factory should start producing cars from semi-finished kits, he said. "A new schedule is being established so by December 2026 the factory will be fully functional with the expectation of generating 10,000 jobs," Vasconcelos said in the video published to social media. The news comes as Bahia governor Jeronimo Rodrigues travels to China with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, discussing plans for BYD and the car industry, Vasconcelos said. Operations will begin with the assembly of vehicles in 2025 as the factory ramps up with "progressive nationalisation of the best-selling models in Brazil", BYD said. With 76,713 vehicles sold in Brazil throughout the year, the company registered a growth of around 328% compared to the 17,937 sold in 2023, according to a January press release. BYD's investment in Brazil, its biggest market outside China, aims to turn a former Ford factory into a manufacturing complex with capacity to make 150,000 electric cars every year. The project was tarnished in December with accusations of labour abuses at the worksite. The Chinese company's bet on Brazil includes the acquisition of mining rights to areas rich in lithium, a mineral commonly used to build batteries for electric vehicles. The plant was expected to have started making cars in Brazil at the beginning of this year, but delays involving the labour probe and heavy rains affected the timeline, said Julio Bonfim, head of the metalworkers union of Camaçari, Bahia. To assemble the vehicles from the imported kits from China, BYD is set to hire around 1,000 workers in Brazil this year, Bonfim told Reuters, far short of the 10,000 the Chinese firm first promised. Throughout the project, BYD estimates it will create 20,000 jobs directly and indirectly, said the firm. Despite the delay, Bonfim said the new timeline is good news, and next year he expects the hirings to increase as the firm prepares to build vehicles entirely in the country.
Indian Express
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Indian Express
BYD factory delayed in Brazil to be ‘fully functional' by end-2026, says official
Chinese electric car maker BYD's new factory in Brazil will be 'fully functional' by December 2026, after its operations were delayed because of an investigation into labor abuses, Bahia state labor secretary Augusto Vasconcelos said in a video on Monday. By the end of this year, the factory should start producing cars from semi-finished kits, he added. 'A new schedule is being established so that by December 2026 the factory will be fully functional with the expectation of generating 10,000 jobs,' said Vasconcelos in the video published to social media. The news comes as Bahia Governor Jeronimo Rodrigues travels to China with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, discussing plans for BYD and the auto industry, Vasconcelos said. The firm did not immediately reply to a request for comment. BYD's investment in Brazil – its biggest market outside of China – aims to turn a former Ford factory into a manufacturing complex with capacity to make 150,000 electric cars per year. The project was tarnished in December with accusations of labor abuses at the worksite. The Chinese company's bet on Brazil includes the acquisition of mining rights to areas rich in lithium, a mineral commonly used to build batteries for electric vehicles. The plant was expected to have started making cars in Brazil at the beginning of this year, but delays involving the labor probe and heavy rains affected the timeline, said Julio Bonfim, head of the metalworkers union of Camaçari, Bahia. To assemble the vehicles from the imported kits from China, BYD is set to hire around 1,000 workers in Brazil this year, Bonfim told Reuters, far short of the 10,000 the Chinese firm first promised. Despite the delay, Bonfim said the new timeline is good news, and that next year he expects the hirings to increase as the firm prepares to build vehicles entirely in the country.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
BYD factory delayed in Brazil to be 'fully functional' by end-2026, says official
By Fabio Teixeira RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Chinese electric car maker BYD's new factory in Brazil will be "fully functional" by December 2026, after its operations were delayed because of an investigation into labor abuses, Bahia state labor secretary Augusto Vasconcelos said in a video on Monday. By the end of this year, the factory should start producing cars from semi-finished kits, he added. "A new schedule is being established so that by December 2026 the factory will be fully functional with the expectation of generating 10,000 jobs," said Vasconcelos in the video published to social media. The news comes as Bahia Governor Jeronimo Rodrigues travels to China with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, discussing plans for BYD and the auto industry, Vasconcelos said. The firm did not immediately reply to a request for comment. BYD's investment in Brazil - its biggest market outside of China - aims to turn a former Ford factory into a manufacturing complex with capacity to make 150,000 electric cars per year. The project was tarnished in December with accusations of labor abuses at the worksite. The Chinese company's bet on Brazil includes the acquisition of mining rights to areas rich in lithium, a mineral commonly used to build batteries for electric vehicles. The plant was expected to have started making cars in Brazil at the beginning of this year, but delays involving the labor probe and heavy rains affected the timeline, said Julio Bonfim, head of the metalworkers union of Camaçari, Bahia. To assemble the vehicles from the imported kits from China, BYD is set to hire around 1,000 workers in Brazil this year, Bonfim told Reuters, far short of the 10,000 the Chinese firm first promised. Despite the delay, Bonfim said the new timeline is good news, and that next year he expects the hirings to increase as the firm prepares to build vehicles entirely in the country. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
BBC News
19-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Procter leads Northants response against Derbys
Rothesay County Championship Division Two, County Ground, Derby (day two)Derbyshire 307: Guest 91, Madsen 89; Broad 4-60, Procter 3-61, Guthrie 3-74Northants 236-3: Procter 97*, Vasconcelos 82Northants (3 pts) trail Derbyshire (2 pts) by 71 runsMatch scorecard Northamptonshire skipper Luke Procter led from the front as his team fought back on the second day of their County Championship Division Two match against Derbyshire at made an unbeaten 97 and shared an opening stand of 143 with Ricardo Vasconcelos, who passed 50 for the first time this season, scoring 82 off 117 balls, as the visitors closed on 236-3 in reply to Derbyshire's also finished with figures of 3-61 with Justin Broad claiming 4-60 as Derbyshire lost their last six wickets for 80 runs, including Brooke Guest, who top scored with bowlers had something to prove after a below par performance on the first day, and they delivered a much improved display in terms of control and had played a counter-attacking innings which had disturbed the bowler's lines, and he resumed with a crisp straight drive down the ground against Liam Guthrie to move into the Guthrie had the last word when Guest went to drive a widish ball and dragged it into his stumps to give the visitors the early breakthrough they Broad replaced Guthrie, he found some inswing to trap Anuj Dal in front, and then beat Martin Andersson's loose drive to reduce Derbyshire to Chappell edged a forcing stroke behind to give Broad his third victim of the morning, and Derbyshire were in danger of falling below 300 when Luis Reece was caught down the legside aiming to pull Tickner secured a second bonus point when he pulled Dom Leech to the ropes, before Procter took the new ball and had Jack Morley caught was a good session for the visitors, who dominated the afternoon with Vasconcelos and Procter batting through to was close to being lbw to Tickner early in his innings but after a sketchy start, a glorious on drive off the New Zealand paceman showed his confidence and touch was well as he and Procter batted, it was not a good session for Derbyshire's bowlers as they failed to maintain the consistent lines to build off drive off Andersson brought Vasconcelos his 10th four and took him to 50 before he whipped Reece to the mid-wicket boundary to bring up the 100 stand which came from 135 completed his half-century after tea, and when Wayne Madsen could not cling on to a fierce chance at second slip off Tickner when Vasconcelos was on 76, it threatened to be certainly looked that way when the opener pulled the next delivery for four, but when Tickner tempted him with a widish ball, he slashed it to gully where Andersson made no knew he had thrown away the chance of a hundred and had to drag himself from the crease but he and Procter had given their team a good platform to build was building another partnership with George Bartlett until Chappell got enough lift off a length to have the latter caught behind, and James Sales never got going, playing across a full ball from were much better in an extended final session but Procter and Rob Keogh reduced the arrears to 71 before bad light ended Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay
The Independent
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Inside the aristocratic palace turned art playground: Joana Vasconcelos shakes up the House of Alba
The grand salons of the Liria Palace in Madrid, home to one of Spain's most illustrious aristocratic dynasties, have been dramatically reimagined. Crystal chandeliers now cast their light over Joana Vasconcelos's monumental stilettos, assembled from gleaming stainless steel pots. A pair of stone lions, draped in delicate crochet, stand sentinel at the entrance, while a vast, pulsing heart installation glows in the palace's once-private chapel. This is Flamboyant, the latest exhibition from the Portuguese artist known for fusing the ornate with the everyday, the grandiose with the playfully subversive. Running until July, the show is an audacious clash of old and new, placing Vasconcelos's vivid, sometimes provocative works alongside the palace's renowned collection of Goya, Rubens and Velázquez. For a house so deeply entwined with Spanish history, the decision to embrace Vasconcelos's riotous contemporary aesthetic is an intriguing one. The palace, an 18th-century neoclassical landmark, has been the Madrid residence of the Dukes of Alba for generations, a dynasty whose lineage traces back to the 15th century. Its walls have borne witness to royal visits, political intrigues, and the flamboyant presence of the late Duchess of Alba, Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, a woman whose passion for art and fearless eccentricity made her something of a legend. The exhibition's title, Vasconcelos insists, is a nod to the duchess rather than to herself. 'She was the flamboyant one,' the artist said. 'Not me.' Yet, in many ways, Flamboyant feels like an artistic manifesto, a deliberate attempt to interrogate the line between high art and pop culture, tradition and modernity. 'The Liria Palace is not a repository of history,' Vasconcelos has remarked, 'but a living space that adjusts to contemporary contexts while preserving its essence.' The idea of a 'living space' is key – this is not a museum in the conventional sense, but a functioning home, occupied by the current Duke of Alba, Carlos Fitz-James Stuart. And unlike the Almeida or the Prado, which have long engaged with contemporary artists, the Liria has remained largely untouched by the avant-garde. Until now. Among the highlights of the show is Marilyn, a towering pair of stiletto heels constructed from saucepans, a work that playfully deconstructs notions of femininity and domestic labour. In the ballroom, Carmen, a chandelier draped in black velvet and plastic flamenco earrings, distorts the aristocratic glamour of its surroundings. Outside, in the gardens, Coração Independente, a colossal wrought-iron teapot, nods to the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza, who famously introduced tea-drinking to the English court. These interventions, at times irreverent, at times poignant, seek not to overshadow the palace's classical grandeur but to provoke a dialogue with it. The sheer opulence of Vasconcelos's work – its baroque flourishes, its exuberant maximalism – feels at home among the Liria's Rococo ceilings and gilded furniture. But there is an edge to her playfulness. The historical weight of the palace lends Flamboyant a gravitas that might not be as evident in a conventional gallery setting. These are not just lavish objects; they are provocations, interrogating the structures of wealth, gender, and power that have shaped places like the Liria for centuries. The exhibition also coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Casa de Alba Foundation, an institution dedicated to preserving the family's artistic and historical legacy. For the Duke of Alba, Flamboyant signals an evolution, an effort to open the palace to new audiences and reframe its significance in the modern world. 'It is practically a duty to open the house to contemporary art,' he has said, 'with one of the world's leading artists.' Whether the gamble pays off remains to be seen. Vasconcelos, after all, is an artist who has been accused of spectacle for spectacle's sake, her work dismissed in some quarters as aesthetically overpowering. But at the Liria, spectacle is the point. In a palace that has always been about grandeur and performance, Flamboyant does not feel like an imposition. It feels, strangely, inevitable.
