Daimler plans to build a new plant in Brazil as rising taxes on foreign vehicles make it more difficult to sell imported cars in the Latin American country, a magazine reported.
Mercedes-Benz is to begin assembling C-Class model cars in Brazil by 2015 with a starting capacity of about 20,000 vehicles per year, German weekly Der Spiegel said in an unsourced report, according to Reuters.
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A Daimler spokesman told the news agency the company was considering such a move but had made no decision yet.
“We are looking at Brazil, just like various other locations,” he said.
Daimler made the Mercedes-Benz A-Class in its Juiz de Fora plant from 1999, making it the first luxury carmaker to build vehicles in Brazil.
Some C-class models for the US and Canada were also assembled there. The plant was also at a time the sole source of CLC hatchback versions, too.
But it ceased car production in December 2010 and refitted the site to make commercial trucks.
Der Spiegel said Daimler would decide in the coming months where in Brazil to build the new plant, Reuters noted.
