UPDATE: Ford to invest over 2B in Brazil

[rickaren]

Ford to invest $1.15 billion in Brazil

Posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 2:25 PM EST. (Employee News)

Ford Motor Co. plans to invest 2 billion reais ($1.15 billion) in Brazil through 2015, most of it on a plant in the northeastern Bahia state, to expand production and benefit from expected growth in Latin America’s largest economy, the state governor said on today, Reuters reported.

As part of the investment plan, which will be officially unveiled in a ceremony with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva later today, Brazil’s government will extend state and federal tax breaks to Ford, Bahia state governor Jaques Wagner said on a radio interview, the news service said. A Ford spokeswoman in Brazil said the automaker would make no comment until the official ceremony at the company’s Camacari plant starts at around noon (9 a.m. EST). (Reuters)

[rickaren]

Ford Motor to invest $2.3B in Brazil

Posted on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 2:50 PM EST. (Employee News)

Ford Motor Co. will invest nearly $2.3 billion in Brazil during the next five years to modernize factories and expand production in South America’s largest market, The Detroit News reported.

More than half of the money will be spent to expand production at the factory, which is Ford’s most advanced assembly plant in the world, and to modernize production at Troller Veículos Especiais S/A in Horizonte, Ceará, which Ford bought in 2007, the News said. The rest will be reserved for future product investments, the story said.

A Ford spokesperson said the investment will allow Ford to increase the output of its Camaçari plant by 50,000 annually, the paper said. The factory, which produces the EcoSport compact sport utility vehicle and a series of products based on the old Fiesta, already produces about 250,000 vehicles each year, the story said. (The Detroit News)