SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — Automobile manufacturers in Brazil will invest $4.9 billion in 2008, or more than double what was put into the industry the prior year, a manufacturing association said Monday.
According to the Brazilian Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association, or Anfavea, the increased pace of investment comes in response to growing demand in Latin America's largest nation.
Auto makers in Brazil have been setting records for production and sales as falling interest rates, economic growth and higher consumer spending power fuel demand.
''The investments are being made because there is confidence that the market will grow,'' Anfavea's President Jackson Schneider, said at a press conference.
Between 2008 and 2010, automakers and auto parts firms will invest around $20 billion, Schneider said.
In 2007, total auto industry investment in Brazil stood at $2.1 billion.
Brazil's auto industry is dominated by Fiat SpA, Volkswagen AG, General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Company.
