German Truck Maker MAN to Invest Another $559 Million in Brazil
German truck maker MAN, controlled by multinational Volkswagen, plans to invest an additional 1 billion reais (some $559 million) in Brazil, the president of the company’s Latin American subsidiary said.
“It’s the biggest (investment program) we’ve announced in our 30-year history. Between 1995 and 2011, we had three big investment cycles totaling 3 billion reais (some $1.7 billion),” Roberto Cortes said Friday after meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
This additional investment outlay of nearly 1 billion reais between 2012 and 2016 will consolidate the company’s commitment to capitalizing on the region’s potential, the executive said.
The sales leader for nine years running in Brazil’s large truck market, MAN plans to focus its new investments on the development of a new generation of vehicles and new motorizations and on research into sustainable technologies.
The main goal is to increase the company’s supply of commercial VW- and MAN-brand vehicles manufactured by its assembly plant in the southeastern city of Resende.
That facility has an annual production capacity of 82,000 trucks and bus chassis.
Earlier this year, MAN acquired 1.5 million sq. meters (16.1 million sq. feet) in the southeastern city of Porto Real that will be used to house its future Sales Logistics Center.
