General Motors Brazil has started building an engine plant in the southern state of Santa Catarina, the company said.
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It announced the plan last April and expects to spend R350m (US$196m) on the new facility scheduled to start operations in the fourth quarter of next year.
GM said the new plant would help expand both its domestic and export markets, according to Dow Jones.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, Anfavea, reported record production and domestic and export sales for the first eight months of the year. Output rose 20.3% to 1.93m units, domestic sales were up 26.4% to 1.53m and exports – hit recently by an appreciating real – rose 9.1% to $8.66bn.
GM – third by sales in Brazil – said in April the new engine plant would employ 500 and generate 1,300 indirect jobs.
The new facility would be approximately 500,000 square metres with the plant itself comprising an area of approximately 60,000 square metres. The plant would have the capability to produce 120,000 engines and 50,000 cylinder heads per year and, at full capacity, would operate three shifts.
The plant would include some of the most advanced processes in the area of engine machining and assembly, and cylinder head manufacturing. The machining process would ncorporate flexible machines with control systems that provide for rapid changes to volume, technical changes and product improvements.
In addition, a new electric system would enable operators to test engines without using fuel, essentially eliminating the generation of contaminants inside the plant.
“The decision to build a new engine plant in Brazil is essential to our ability to expand vehicle production capacity throughout the Mercosul region,” Jaime Ardila, president of General Motors Brazil and Mercosul, said at the time.
