GM to invest $1 bln in Brazil plant

• Source: xinhua
• [08:15 July 17 2009]
• Comments

US automaker General Motors Wednesday announced plans to invest 2 billion reais ($1 billion) in one of its Brazilian plants.

In a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, GM's president in Brazil, Jaime Ardila, presented a plan foreseeing increased investment in its factory in southern Brazil.

The investment will boost output from the current 230,000 vehicles per year to 380,000 vehicles per year in 2012, surpassing all other GM units across the Mercosur region.

A new production line will be installed in the factory to manufacture compact cars for consumers in Brazil and other Mercosur countries. The move is expected to generate 1,000 direct and 7,000 indirect jobs.

This has been the first GM investment in Brazil since the beginning of the global financial crisis. The Brazilian automobile sector faced trouble in the last quarter of 2008, but it is recovering since then, mostly thanks to tax cuts and other government measures.