Fiat starts assembling press in PE

In the midst of recent investment announcements of competition, Fiat, leader in the Brazilian market, gives string to its biggest project in the country: erect a factory in Pernambuco aligned to the technological standards of most modern lines in the world and capable of producing up to 250 thousand automobiles per year. Almost two years after initiating the preparation of the site, the work reached the stage of assembling a heavy line of presses. The expectation is that the plant is ready by the end of 2014 to start production on a commercial scale at the beginning of the following year. The cars to be produced on site are already set, but the models, or even the category of vehicles remain under wraps, as well as the carmaker follows without confirming the possibility of using the plant to produce controlled Chrysler automobiles. Cledorvino Belini, President of Fiat in Brazil, has compared the arrival of automaker Goiana-municipality in the Zona da Mata Norte of Pernambuco, where the new plant is being built-the challenge faced in almost 40 years when the company, at a time when production is concentrated in the greater ABC, decided to settle in Betim, Minas Gerais. In both cases, Fiat reached regions hitherto unexplored by the automobile industry, a situation that has the mission to develop virtually from scratch an entire supply chain. But also in the two situations were decisive fiscal incentives granted by both the federal Government and the State. In the case of Guyana, the project only went ahead because they were held until 2020 the incentives of the automotive development programme in the region, which would end in 2011. Are incentives ranging from tax exemptions on imports of capital goods and foreign exchange transactions for the purchase of imported goods the tax rebates on imports of raw materials. Pernambuco also joined with local incentives, such as the deferral of charging of GST and the granting of the land of 14 million square meters. Additionally, public banks will finance 75% of investment in the factory, estimated at $ 7 billion when including the suppliers, which will have a reserved area in the industrial park of Fiat. Only the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Regional (BNDES) will lend $ 2.4 billion. A further r $ 1.96 billion will come from a Fund of Sudene and R $ 888 million from Banco do Nordeste. With these investments, the Fiat prepares to serve a market that in the accounts of the company itself, will reach close to 5 million cars a year by 2020, 37% above the current size.