Asian manufacturers are more and more interested in Brazil
- Asian carmakers (Japanese and Korean) had ignored South America in their overall transplant strategy (factories located outside of Japan). Since the early 2000s, however, some manufacturers like Toyota, Honda and Hyundai, have been trying an incursion in this region, mainly in Argentina and Brazil, where the market is growing rapidly.
- This year, Mitsubishi began producing the ASX SUV in its Brazilian factory in Catalao. The ASX is already made in Japan, the United States, Indonesia and China, and has sold over 26,000 copies in the Brazilian market since its launch (imports from Japan).
- For its part, Nissan has announced that the Versa sedan is one of the models manufactured in the new factory of Resende, which will become operational in the first half of 2014. The plant will initially produce the Micra and the Versa will join it in the second half. The Resende plant will provide a capacity of 200 000 vehicles per year.
- The Brazilian plant of the Chinese carmaker Chery is expected to be operational in early 2014. The establishment of this plant will allow the Chinese carmaker to avoid import taxes imposed by the country. The factory located in Sao Paulo will assemble the Chery compact Celer (Fulwin 2 in China). Production capacity will be 150,000 vehicles per year.
