Brazil is currently Renault’s third biggest market, behind only France and Germany. This year, the French company sold 133,158 Renault passenger cars and 30,672 Renault and Nissan LCVs and, according to the company’s CEO, Carlos Ghosn, along with Russia and India, it’s “one of its three top priority markets”.
Ghosn visited Renault’s Curitiba plant and announced the group’s plan to invest €200 million (US$267 million) and add 1,000 jobs in order to increase its production by 100,000 units until 2013.
“In 2011, Brazil is set to become Renault’s second-largest market. Brazil is one of the cornerstone of our international growth strategy: more than one-quarter of the growth in volume will come from Brazil. If we are to reach this target, then we must increase our manufacturing capacity, and we have chosen our Curitiba plant to achieve this”, said Ghosn.
The Ayrton Senna Curitiba complex, which manufactures passenger cars, LCVs and engines, currently produces more than 280,000 vehicles annually for the local and other South American markets.
The models that are manufactured in Curitiba include the Sandero, which is also its best-seller, the Sandero Stepway, the Logan and the Megane Grand Tour II. From October 7, the Duster SUV will be added to Renault’s Brazilian line-up.
Despite achieving a 20.3% increase from January until the end of August and being the country’s fifth largest car manufacturer behind Fiat, VW, GM and Ford, Renault Brazil wants to grow its share in the local market from today’s 5% to 8% by 2016.
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