Renault has announced it will produce an additional 100,000 vehicles a year in its Curitiba, Brazil plant in 2013, creating 1,000 new jobs and boosting annual capacity (passenger cars and LCVs) to about 380,000 units a year.
The expansion will cost BR$500m or about EUR200m on top of a planned in 2010-2015 capital outlay of BR$1bn for industrial production and development of new products.
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The automaker said the increase would enable it to meet its target of 8% market share by 2016 versus around 5% today.
Along with India and Russia, Brazil is one of Renault’s three priority markets as part of its ‘Renault 2016 – Drive the Change’ programme. Brazil was the group’s third largest market for the year to the end of August 2011, behind France and Germany, and it was the second largest in July and August.
Renault president and CEO Carlos Ghosn said: “In 2011, Brazil is set to become Renault’s second-largest market. Brazil is one of the cornerstones 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.”
Renault will also establish an engineering centre close to the production plants – currently engineering personnel and establishments (Renault Technologies Americas – RTA) are spread around its facilities.
Renault Brasil will also open a training centre and new centres for logistics in order to make more rational use of storage areas. All these operations will create 1,000 new jobs, in addition to the 1,000 already made in 2011, making a total increase of 2,000 by 2015.
Renault has three plants in the Ayrton Senna complex at Curitiba: a passenger car plant, an LCV plant and an engine plant. It exports vehicles to other markets in South America inlcuding Argentina and Mexico.
Renault Brasil recently began making the Dacia Duster which will be launched in Argentina and Brazil on 7 October.
The passenger car plant in Curitiba also makes the Sandero, the brand’s best-seller locally, Sandero Stepway, Logan and Mégane Grand Tour II (wagon).
