GM Announces $500 Million Investment for Argentina and Brazil
Investment will support growth of GM in Emerging Markets
Sao Paulo, BRAZIL – General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner announced today that the company will invest $500 million in its operations in Argentina and Brazil for the development of a new generation of small vehicles for Latin America and other emerging markets. The investment also includes the expansion of GM’s Brazilian product development center.
The investment includes two major elements:
· Development of a new family of small vehicles that will be built in Argentina and Brazil. This will include upgrades to GM’s plants in Rosario, Argentina and Sao Caetano do Sul, Brazil. It also includes product development work to be done at the GM Brazil product development center in Sao Caetano do Sul.
· Expansion of GM’s product development center in Brazil, including a new engineering building in Sao Caetano do Sul and new equipment and infrastructure to support the growing role of GM Brazil in the company’s global product development process.
“With the improved economic environment in Argentina and Brazil, we are proceeding with our next phase of investments to support our continued growth in Latin America and around the world,” Wagoner said.
“GM has a rich history in the Mercosul region, and we look forward to continuing our growth for many years to come.”
This investment supports the important role GM Brazil is playing in the company’s global product development process - - especially focused on the growing emerging markets.
“We have been growing our engineering resources in key emerging markets like Brazil, China and India – not only for development of vehicles for their own markets, but for other emerging markets as well,” Wagoner said. “This investment will enable us to take full advantage of the expertise we have in Brazil and support our planned local and global sales growth.”
GM sales have been very strong in Latin America. Through the first two quarters of 2007, GM sales in Brazil and Argentina are up 18 and 16 percent respectively versus the same period in 2006. Both GM Argentina (75,000) and GM Brazil (410,000) set all-time sales records in 2006.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 76 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 280,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures cars and trucks in 33 countries. In 2006, nearly 9.1 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.
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CONTACT(S):
Pedro Dias
GM do Brasil Communications
+55-11-4234-7005
Bernardo Garcia
GM Argentina Communications
+54-11-4510-2710
Laura Toole
GM Latin America, Africa, Middle East Communications
+1-954-392-3548