The Brazilian market reached an all-time high last year with sales of 2.2 million vehicles. South America is therefore back on the map for supplier investment.
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ZF is one company that already has a strong position there. It has five plants in Brazil and Argentina and now plans to use these to supply truck components to other fast-growing markets such as Asia, reports Automobilwoche.
ZF has plants in four plants in Brazil (Sorocaba, São Bernardo do Campo, Araraquara, Belo Horizonte, and one plant in Argentina (Cordoba)). In 2004 its turnover increased 23% compared to a year earlier to €300m.
In an interview with Automobilwoche, Wolfgang Vogel, who is responsible for ZF’s South American business, said that the company is aiming to increase export sales from around 25% of its South American turnover to 35%. Some of this will go to Europe and north America, but Classic Line truck transmissions and components, for example, will be specifically targeted for developing countries.
Automobilwoche quotes a piece of internal ZF Sachs analysis, which shows that labour costs in its South American plants are around one tenth of those in Germany.
