Nissan to start making new car in crisis-hit Brazil

[RIO DE JANEIRO] Japanese auto maker Nissan said Monday it will invest $185 million to produce a new model of urban four-wheel-drive car in Brazil, despite the country's economic crisis.

"Nissan will build a new car, the Nissan Kicks" at its factory in Resende, west of Rio de Janeiro, said the group's chief executive Carlos Ghosn.

"It is a local product of the Resende factory and will be exported worldwide from Brazil," he told a news conference in Rio.

He said the company would invest 750 million reals over three years in producing the new model.

He forecast the investment would create 600 jobs at the Resende factory, which opened in 2014.

Brazil is in a recession and a political crisis. Ghosn said the auto market there shrank by a quarter last year.

He said 2015 has not been a good year for Brazil but Nissan had nevertheless expanded its share of the market even with lower sales.

"Brazil is still a fundamental part of Nissan's strategy and we have great faith in the potential of the Brazilian market."

AFP