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LATIN AMERICA |
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Ford
Announces $2.3 Billion Expansion of Brazil
Operation
RIO DE JANEIRO – U.S. automaker Ford on
Friday announced plans to invest 4 billion
reais ($2.3 billion) through 2015 to expand
two factories in Brazil.
Close to $1.6 billion will be spend on
increasing the production capacity of the
state-of-the-art Camaçari complex in the
northeastern state of Bahia, Ford’s biggest
and most modern plant in Brazil.
Output capacity at the factory, where the
announcement was made in a ceremony attended
by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, will
increase from 250,000 to 300,000 vehicles
per year, Ford’s president for Brazil and
the Mercosur region, Marcos Oliveira, told a
press conference.
Another 1,000 workers will be added to the
current staff of 8,500 at that factory,
where Ford makes its Fiesta sub-compact and
EcoSport SUV models.
Camaçari has operated at full capacity since
2004, three years after the plant was
inaugurated, with three around-the-clock
shifts. According to the company’s
estimates, one vehicle is churned out every
80 seconds.
Another $690 million will be spent on
modernizing Ford’s Troller plant in the
northeastern state of Ceara.
Between January and September, Ford churned
out 250,626 vehicles in Brazil, according to
figures from the National Association of
Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, or Anfavea.
Ford ranks fourth in terms of auto sales in
Brazil, behind Fiat, Volkswagen and General
Motors, with a 10 percent market share,
according to Anfavea figures.
During the first nine months of the year,
Ford Brazil sold 263,925 units inside the
giant South American country and exported
39,007 vehicles to markets in the region
such as Argentina, Venezuela, Chile and
Mexico.
Despite the global economic crisis, auto
sales have been robust this year in Brazil
due to tax incentives and low interest
rates. EFE |
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