President Jair Bolsonaro said on Friday he would try to convince electric carmaker Tesla to open a factory in Brazil when he heads to the United States next month. Bolsonaro, who will visit Miami and Dallas on March 9 and 10, said on Twitter that our extensive agenda will include the possibility of bringing Tesla to Brazil.
Brazilian automakers are facing the prospect of a sharp drop in exports this year as a crisis in neighboring Argentina hampers the prospects of car sales abroad, the national automakers’ association said on Friday.
Car makers in Argentina have sufficient dollars to meet production and sales targets, the government said Friday, a day after General Motors Co announced it had suspended exports from Brazil to its Argentine unit due to a hard currency shortage.
Argentine Economy Minister Axel Kicillof and Industry Minister Débora Giorgi fly to Brasilia on Tuesday in a bid to swing the automobile trade balance in Argentina’s favor, with the sector accounting for the majority of a total 3.15 billion dollars trade deficit. From Brazil Finance minister Guido Mantega confirmed bilateral discussions on the auto industry and exports.
Car production in Brazil slipped in July to the lowest daily rate in five months as factories, facing sagging consumer confidence scaled back output industry data showed on Tuesday.
Brazil car sales rose to a record 400,000 units in August as tax cuts and lower borrowing costs spur consumer spending. Fiat, the country’s biggest automaker, said that tax cuts that took effect in May and were extended last week through October spurred industry sales of cars and light vehicles last month.