The Brazilian automotive market is rapidly establishing itself as one of the most important developing industries in the world – and now Japanese carmaker Nissan is aiming to grab a foothold in the area.
It will invest US$1.4billion in constructing a new manufacturing facility in Resende in Rio de Janeiro to develop, industrialise and launch new products. It is expected to begin production in 2014 with a production capacity of up to 200,000 units annually.
The plant is seen as a major step forward in its strategy to become the leading automaker in the fast-growing BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) markets. Brazil is now the world’s fourth largest auto market by volume and Nissan hopes to gain at least a five per cent market share in the country by 2016.
In addition, Nissan’s alliance partner Renault has announced that it will invest US$276million to produce an additional 100,000 vehicles a year in its Curitiba, Brazil, plant in 2013 as it looks to claim a market share of eight per cent – compared to five per cent today.
The plant’s annual capacity will be increased to more than 380,000 units per year and, according to Carlos Ghosn, the president and CEO of Renault, Brazil will become its second largest market this year.
In addition, the investments in Curitiba will allow for the creation of an engineering centre close to the production plants.
