Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co, Ltd said it would invest 2.6 billion reais ($1.42 billion) to build a new factory in Brazil as it aims to triple its market share in Latin America's largest economy by 2016.
The new production center, in Resende in Rio de Janeiro state, will have the capacity to produce 200,000 vehicles annually when it starts operating in the first half of 2014, Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn announced on Thursday at an event in Rio.
Ghosn, a Brazilian who also heads the Renault-Nissan partnership, made the announcement a day after unveiling a 500 million reais ($274 million) plan to expand the production of French automaker Renault's cars at an existing factory in the southern state of Parana. The announcement comes less than a month after Brazil's government raised a key tax on automakers in an attempt to discourage imports and stimulate domestic production and jobs.
Ghosn said the new plant, the first dedicated Nissan factory in Brazil, will create 2,000 direct jobs and will produce Nissan's "V platform" of cars, including the compact March model.
Nissan aims to raise its share of sales in Brazil's fiercely competitive auto market to 5 percent by 2016 from 1.7 percent this year. Renault, which currently ranks fifth among carmakers in Brazil with a 5 percent share of the market, aims to lift its proportion to 8 percent in the same period.
The Brazil offensive is the latest leg of the Renault-Nissan partnership's strategy of boosting sales and raising market share in the fast-growth BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China. Nissan and Renault plan to launch a total of 23 models in Brazil in the next four years.