General Motors (GM) recently announced that it will be investing $2.9 billion dollars into it’s Brazilian operations for the next 4 years. This investment announcement was made to Brazilian President Dilma Roussef by GM’s CEO Mary Barra on a visit to Brazil.
This means that going through 2018 General Motors do Brasil, the official name for GM Brazil, will be receiving significant tooling upgrades to suppliers in Brazil as well as funding development of new models for the Brazilian market as well as technologies to go along with new models. In addition employee training will be part of this cash infusion by GM in the South American market.
“This investment will allow the Chevrolet brand continue to renew its lineup with a focus on technology and quality. Another major purpose of this contribution is to raise the percentage of nationalization of the components of the cars made in Brazil, in an action that also involves suppliers installed in the country,” said Jaime Ardila, president of General Motors South America.
Santiago Chamorro, president of GM do Brasil operations, said the long-term investment reinforces the confidence GM has in Brazil.
Brazil serves an important market for GM as they build many small cars and light trucks. Brazil is also not only the Supermodel Capitol of the world, with gorgeous models like Adriana Lima hailing from there, but also one of the largest markets for new vehicles sales in the world. It’s important for GM to make sure they are competitive in the Brazil. New car sales have been steadily rising in the country for the past few years and it is the world’s fifth largest country.
It is not clear whether this investment also goes along with funding engineering teams within Brazil for new Chevy models. Most of the development for this market happens with engineers based in Japan and joint collaborations with other automakers like Izuzu.
