BMW News

    BMW plans to invest 1,000,000,000 reais ($500,000,000 USD) to build a new assembly plant in Southern Brazil, according to sources with direct knowledge of the project.

    BMW's finance chief, Friedrich Eichiner, said that the company  decided to go ahead with the project after initially threatening to pull the plug on the entire endeavor, following a tax hike on imported cars, as well as uncertainty over new rules requiring carmakers to use more local content. 

    With the fresh investment, BMW is betting on reaping the benefits of the growing market for luxury cars in Latin America's largest economy. Sources with knowledge of the project told Reuters News Agency on condition of anonymity that BMW plans to build five car models, including the Mini. The first cars should be coming off the line in about two years.

    Santa Catarina state Gov. Raimundo Colombo said he will meet with President Dilma Rousseff on Monday "to explain details of the investment.

    BMW car sales in Brazil plummeted 29.4 percent in the first nine months of the year from a year ago to 8,768 units as the local economy slowly emerged from a year of stagnant growth.

    The Brazilian government has given steep tax incentives for local carmakers to bolster vehicle sales and preserve thousands of factory jobs as policymakers struggle to jump-start the economy.––Paul Duchene