BRASILIA (Reuters) – Japanese carmaker Honda will invest 4.2 billion reais ($807.74 million) in its Itirapina plant in Brazil by 2030, an executive said on Friday, adding that the company plans to develop a hybrid-flex vehicle developing in the South American country.
Honda’s announcement is the latest in a series of new investments by automakers such as Volkswagen, General Motors, Stellantis and Toyota in Brazil.
According to the Brazilian government, the investments that car manufacturers have committed to the country in the coming years already amount to almost 130 billion reais.
Honda’s commercial vice president in Brazil, Roberto Akiyama, said the company’s investments would focus on new technologies and the development of a hybrid model for the Brazilian market, which could run 100% on ethanol.
The company, he told reporters, expects to produce as many as 150,000 vehicles a year at the Itirapina plant by 2030, up from 100,000 this year, for both domestic and export sales.
In addition to the yet-to-be-developed hybrid-flex vehicle, Akiyama said Honda also plans to launch a new entry-level SUV in the Brazilian market in 2025.
His comments follow a meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasilia.
($1 = 5.1997 reais)
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Kylie Madry)
