The Fiat factory, due to the high level of integration, is projected to produce between 200,000 and 250,000 units per year, with investments between R$ 3 billion and R$ 3.5 billion. The number of direct jobs is expected to surpass the 3,500 positions originally projected. The production line is planned to start in  early 2014.

The decision to invest in Pernambuco stems from the long-term favorable outlook for the market, with projected expansion of sales of cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV) in all regions of the country, especially in the Northeast (where Pernambuco is situated).

In addition, the new Fiat plant’s integrated design became possible because the company found a continuous area which will house the entire automotive hub composed of the car factory, tier one supplier park, training center and research and development center, test track and proving ground.

With 14 million square meters in continuous area, the land is located close to the city of Goiana, in Zona da Mata, north of Pernambuco. It is situated 80 meters above sea level and offers very favorable topographic conditions that allow the plant to be the center of an automotive pole that could expand through the formation of a second supplier park, on separate land, with an area of 1.4 million square meters between the cities of Recife and Goiana. Fiat will also maintain a logistics center in Suape, which will have strategic importance to the overall project.

“Fiat and the State of Pernambuco establish today a long-lasting, productive and transformational relationship, which will benefit the entire economy and local population,” Fiat’s president for Latin America, Cledorvino Belini, said. “We are formally launching a new phase in Fiat’s 35 years of history in Brazil and, at the same time,  we are helping to build an extremely important development phase for Pernambuco,” he added.

INTEGRATION AND SYNERGY

Fiat’s plant is conceived as the dynamic center of Pernambuco’s automotive pole, based on a modern fully integrated design with fully integrated supplier park, manpower training center, technological development center, test track and test field. It is a sustainable plant, of low environmental impact, which reproduces the best  practices in Fiat’s Environmental Management System: the internal streets will be paved with asphalt produced from recycled tyres; the water used in the industrial process will be treated and reused.

The plant has a modern, optimised layout, with material and product flow conceived at the highest World Class Manufacturing (WCM) standards. The plant will become a center of engineering competencies not only to produce automobiles, but also to design them and develop them. For this reason, an engineering qualification agreement was entered into, involving both the federal and state universities of Pernambuco and the Polytechnic Institute of Turin [Politecnico di Torino], for the formation of an initial group of 50 young engineers at that leading Italian institution.

Due to the significant investments in the economy, employment market, and education and qualification, the automotive pole will have positive effects on the entire State , through generation of wealth, income, training, employment, infrastructure improvement, offering of education, expansion of service provision, among others.

A STRATEGIC PLANT FOR FIAT

The Pernambuco plant is strategic for Fiat. The Brazilian automobile and light utility vehicle market closed the year 2010 with a sales volume of 3.3 million vehicles, and Fiat participated with sales of approximately 760,000 vehicles. Studies project that the market in Brazil can reach 4.7 million automobiles and light utility vehicles in 2014.

THE OPTION FOR PERNAMBUCO

Fiat’s decision to invest in the country’s Northeastern region, more specifically in the State of Pernambuco, is based on the developmental policies adopted by the state government, on adequate logistic conditions, strategic geographical position, as well as on the long-standing commitment that Fiat has in the country, and its goal to continue to contribute to sustainable economic and social development. Pernambuco is recognized as the most developed state in the northeast, the region with the highest potential for further consumption increases in the country.

A COMPLETE TEST FIELD

The automotive pole will have a world-class test facility for executing all vehicle tests for the Latin American region with opportunities as well for Fiat Powertrain. Currently, in Brazil there is no place for the company to conduct tests on public highways. The test facility aims to meet all requirements in terms of development and execution of tests and could also support the promotion of training and dealer conventions, press conventions and other events.

FIAT, LEADER AND INNOVATOR

Fiat has in its DNA the mark of a pioneer. It was the first Brazilian automobile manufacturer to be installed outside the industrial belt of São Paulo. Upon inaugurating its plant in Betim, Minas Gerais, on July 9, 1976, the company became a decisive factor for the industrialization of that State. In the course of its consolidation, it promoted the “mineirization” [industrialization of Minas Gerais] process, attracting to the plant’s area of influence countless suppliers, which today contribute 70% of the component demand within a radius of up to 150 kilometers from our plant in Betim. Fiat’s presence changed the face of the economy of Minas Gerais. In the course of its 35 years in Brazil, Fiat has produced more than 12 million vehicles. The company is the market leader and has been for the last for nine years.

A STRATEGIC SECTOR FOR THE ECONOMY

The automotive sector and its productive chain account for more than 5% of Brazil’s total Gross Internal Product and for 23% of the industrial GIP. It is called the “industry of industries”, due to its capacity of structuring in its surrounding supplier parks companies supplying  raw materials and components related to countless sectors of the economy, and covering the entire range of technological complexity.