SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Volkswagen AG has settled a guarantee to dispatch another speculation cycle in Brazil, the mainland’s top automaker, its CEO for South America told Reuters in a meeting on Friday.
“We have defined (the investment) and we already stopped production at our factory in Taubate to prepare the new platform,” said Pablo Di Si, Volkswagen’s CEO for South America.
Di Si declined to go into particulars like the size of the speculation, which will supplant the current investment cycle that was declared in 2016 with a responsibility of 7 billion reais ($1.34 billion).
That cycle was initially booked to end a year ago however the course of events was loosened up when the Covid pandemic hit.
So far this year, Volkswagen has become Brazil’s top-of-the-line brand, uprooting General Motors Co after numerous years, to some extent since GM’s creation in Brazil has been more disturbed than Volkswagen’s by a worldwide chips lack.
Di Si said the subtleties of the investment will be revealed by worldwide CEO of Volkswagen Passenger Cars Ralf Brandstätter in an outing to Brazil later in the year, albeit the specific planning relies upon how the pandemic advances.
The plant in Taubate at present delivers two minimal vehicles, the Sedan Voyage and the hatchback Gol. Di Si didn’t indicate what will befall those models, regardless of whether they will be overhauled or supplanted.
“The investment will reinforce our product portfolio as one of the most important brands in terms of market share,” he said.
Volkswagen, similar to its companions throughout the planet, has been zeroing in increasingly more on creating bigger vehicles, for example, SUVs and pickup trucks to the detriment of conservative vehicles, both due to the higher benefit of bigger vehicles and because purchasers are looking for those items increasingly more also.
“It’s a trend that will only accelerate,” Di Si said. “It’s not that the entry-level segment will disappear, but one sees how the segment is becoming drastically smaller.”
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