Despite the crisis, is expected to invest r $1 Volvo bi in Latin America in 3 years

The Volvo Group, manufacturer of trucks and buses in Curitiba (PR), will invest $1 billion (US $320 million) in Latin America over the next three years. About 90% of the amount shall be applied in Brazil, mainly in the development of new products and on the modernization of the factory. The new investment plan is less than the previous one, which was $500 million.
According to the President of Volvo Latin America, Wilson Lirmann, the previous plan included most of the renovation project of all products of the brand and, now, the contribution will be focused on complementary product lines and updating of equipment from the factory.
Volvo is the fourth automaker to disclose investments in the country in the last three months. MAN Latin America, Toyota and Volkswagen have announced new plans that add up 9.1 R$ billion over the next five years.
Volvo operates in the segments of heavy trucks and semipesados, which last year sold altogether 29600 units, after having reached 103,700 vehicles in 2013. "We''re back to 2002 levels," says the commercial Director of the company, Bernard Fedalto. In about 2015, businesses from all manufacturers retreated 28.8%.
For this year, the Volvo works with up to 10% growth in total sales of trucks, and the Swedish brand hopes to keep the leadership in the segment of large enterprises, 27% last year. These vehicles are mainly used in the transportation of cargo, as ores and drinks. The biggest boost for business must come from the agribusiness area with the need for more trucks to transport grain.
For the bus segment is forecast to growth of 10% to 15% in the total market, which in the past took 11100 units. Volvo expects to sell 700 road and urban bus, up from 644 in 2016.
According to Lirmann, the Curitiba plant operates with idleness similar to other manufacturers in the business, of about 60%. Currently employs 3000 people. Last year, 400 employees left the unit, through a voluntary dismissal program (PDV), following a restructuring of the workforce. "Today we are with the appropriate framework for the current market," he says.
The Parana factory exports more than half of your production to South American countries, especially Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru. Joining the activities in the areas of construction machines (with factory in Penedo, in São Paulo), Nautica and the company made a financial R$ 4.8 billion in 2016, a fall of 12.7% over the previous year. "We were able, however, to balance our operations, especially with exports," according to Lirmann. The brazilian branch was once the second biggest in sales for the group, but today occupies the fifth place.
No driver. Volvo is preparing to come out ahead in Brazil in the segment of vehicles the driver free. "Soon," according to Lirmann, the automaker will present the results of tests done with a semiautônomo truck in a sugar cane farm in Paraná.
An operator is kept in the cabin of the vehicle, but does not interfere in movements. The Executive added that the truck travels through the plantation through the streets that separate the cane without going over the plantation. In Sweden, Volvo already has a truck fully stand-alone (without a driver) operating in an underground mine of minerals like zinc and aluminum. Tests also are beginning to be made in roads in the country.