Brasília – The automaker Fiat has announced a new investment plan for Brazil, worth R$ 15 billion (US$ 7.4 bn), up until 2016. Some of the funds – R$ 9 billion (US$ 4.4 bn) – were included in the previous plan, covering 2011 to 2014, to which an additional R$ 6 billion (US$ 2.9 bn) have been added. The funds will go to production of automobiles, trucks, harvesters, auto parts and engines in the country.
The new plan was laid out this Monday (6th) by the global chairman of Fiat Chrysler and Fiat Industrial, Sergio Marchionne, and the chairman of Fiat Chrysler Latin America, Cledorvino Belini, to the Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, at a meeting lasting an hour and a half.
Some of the funds will go to construction and expansion of plants in Brazil. These include the auto production unit in (state of Pernambuco), which should have an annual output of up to 250,000 units starting in 2015; and the Iveco facility in Sete Lagoas (Minas Gerais) which will assemble defence vehicles in addition to Magirus trucks.
The company’s tractor plant in Curitiba will undergo expansion works, and the automobile manufacturing unit in Betim (Minas Gerais) will undergo an expansion in production capacity, from 800,000 units per year to 950,000 by 2014.
In addition to expansion in production capacity and the construction of new plants, the R$ 15 billion will fund innovation and the development of new products and technologies. The amount will also be spent on improving logistics and manufacturing processes. The holding company estimates that the investment will create 7,700 new direct and 12,000 indirect jobs in Brazil.
Fiat is the largest automaker in the country. Brazil is the centre of the group’s Latin America division.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
