Renault and Nissan have announced a combined investment of $1.8 billion to expand manufacturing and sales throughout Brazil.
Accordingly, the companies plan to introduce 23 new models in an aggressive bid to increase their share of Brazil's booming car market.
Nissan will invest $1.5 billion to construct an all-new manufacturing facility in Rio de Janeiro state and Renault will invest $285 million toward the expansion of a plant in southern state of Parana to tap into the country's huge domestic market of 150 million consumers.
The new Nissan factory is scheduled to begin production in the first half of 2014, will have the capacity to produce up to 200,000 units annually. Meanwhile, the Renault plant will have an annual capacity of 380,000 units per year starting in 2013.
Renault-Nissan Alliance Chairman and CEO Carlos Ghosn said the companies hope to increase their market share from 6.5% today to at least 13% by 2016.
Brazil is already the fourth-largest vehicle market in the world, behind the U.S., China and Japan, and is second to China among the emerging markets for new-car sales.
