According to well placed
media reports Fiat Automóveis is set to build a second
passenger car factory in Brazil to relieve the pressure
on its Betim facility and is in talks with the state of
Pernambuco with an announcement set to be made as early
as next week. Fiat Automóveis is the biggest selling
brand in Brazil with a regular market share of around a
quarter of all sales.
The report comes from the
Reuters news agency which quoted a source it said
was close to the state government. The report added that
a formal announcement about the deal is expected to take
place next Tuesday (December 14) when the Brazilian
President Inacio Lula da Silva makes an official visit
to the state.
Fiat Automóveis, the
Latin American country's biggest-selling vehicle maker,
is seeking to build the new factory in the industrial
complex at the port of Suape, the source told Reuters,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
When contacted by
Reuters, Fiat Automóveis told the agency: "Fiat and the
government of Pernambuco are maintaining negotiations
about possible investments in the state," without
elaborating.
Opening a second
factory in Brazil would ease pressure the giant Betim
plant in the Minas Gerais region which has been the
beating hub of Fiat's vehicle production in the country
for three decades. Betim is the Fiat Group's biggest
factory worldwide and runs at full capacity, currently
churning out around 800,000 units per annum. There are
plans to increase this output to close to a million
units, and to ease pressure on Betim the mothballed
factory at Córdoba in Argentina was recently reopened to
assemble the "Project World Car" sedan family member,
the Siena, while an Iveco plant close to Betim was also
pressed into service to paint some small vans.
Fiat Automóveis has
most recently faced very strong domestic demand for the
new Uno 5-door hatchback since its launch in the spring,
most recently it has started to assemble the
European-design C-segment Bravo in the country, while it
also has to defend its number one position in Brazil as
Japan's Toyota and South Korea's Hyundai both plan new
factory investments in Brazil.
