RIO DE JANEIRO, May 12 (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.