Audi moves back to Brazil as a producer
- After leaving left Brazil in 2006, the Audi manufacturer has decided to return there for 2015.
- The manufacturer will invest 500 million reals (about 165 million euros) in Brazil to produce the A3 and Q3 in the Volkswagen plant of Curitiba, from 2015 for the A3 and from 2016 for the Q3.
- This announcement follows that of BMW and Mercedes who have decided to locate (or relocate ) in this country, where buyers purchase a lot of small cars from generalist manufacturers today, but may buy more and more premium cars range over the next few years, according to these manufacturers, mainly due to a relative enrichment of the middle classes. These locations also respond to higher taxes on imported cars.
- The brand with « the rings » objective is to become the leading manufacturer of high quality to Brazil, ahead of BMW and Mercedes. Audi expects to sell 7,000 cars in Brazil in 2013 (thanks to the additional production capacity in Curitiba) is expected to increase its sales to 30,000 units per year by the end of the decade.
- In order to be more competitive in the emerging countries, Audi is going to produce cars in Brazil, but also open a second plant in China and another in Mexico.
- All these locations have obviously been decided with the approval of the parent company Volkswagen.
