Chinese brand starts operations in the country in August, prepares dealership network and bets on compact electric cars to face BYD and Geely
The Chinese automaker Dongfeng confirmed that it will officially adopt the acronym DFM in its Brazilian operation. The change was announced by Felipe Amaral de Souza, director of Sales and Operations of the brand in the country, during an appearance on the CBN Autoesporte podcast.
According to the executive, the decision seeks to facilitate the pronunciation and identification of the brand by the Brazilian public, just as other acronyms are used in different markets. The acronym stands for “Dong Feng Motor”, and “dong feng” can be translated from Mandarin as “east wind”.
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Although still little known among Brazilian consumers, DFM does business with groups such as Stellantis, Renault and Nissan. Together with Stellantis, it participated in the development of the CMP platform, currently used by models such as Citroën C3, Citroën Basalt, Citroën Aircross, Peugeot 208 and Peugeot 2008.
DFM’s official debut in Brazil will take place in August, during the Interlagos Festival 2026. The manufacturer intends to start operations with 20 dealerships and expand the network to 50 stores by the end of the year.
The first launches will be two electric models positioned between R$ 120 thousand and R$ 160 thousand. The Box compact hatch will arrive to compete in the market with BYD Dolphin Mini and Geely EX2, while the Vigo SUV will have the BYD Yuan Pro as its main rival.
The choice for fully electric vehicles was due to the ease of homologation in Brazil, since hybrid models require adaptation of combustion engines to the national fuel with a high ethanol blend.
DFM’s commercial strategy will be similar to that adopted by GWM, bringing together different sub-brands under a single sales structure. Thus, models from the Voyah and M-Hero divisions will also be marketed in Brazil using the DFM identity.
The manufacturer still plans to launch at least three hybrid SUVs in 2027 and evaluates starting national assembly by 2028 in partnership with another automaker, which may take place at Nissan’s industrial complex in Resende (RJ).
