Car makers to define allocations to increase production this month
DCI - 11/12/2007
Close to reaching the top of the installed capacity, which is currently 3.5 million vehicles a year, the car makers are in a decisive moment: this month they have started defining the investments to expand the production that will be part of a total fund allocation estimated in US$ 15 billion in next the three years. "The H hour is on the table. The industries will have, until the beginning of the second half of the coming year, to decide about the expansion of the installed capacity ", says Jackson Schneider, president of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (Anfavea). There are companies, such as Fiat, which work in three full shifts, with small productivity gains achieved only with the elimination of bottlenecks. However, to supply a market that is expected to continue breaking records in the next years the construction of new units will be necessary. In the beginning of December Anfavea will publish the production and sales estimates for 2008. The estimates for this year say that the local market will consume 2.45 million units, 25% above the volume of 2006. The production will reach 2.96 million vehicles, 13.4% above last year's results. The growth form January to October continues at 28.8% and 12.78%, respectively. Nonetheless, the sector's executive officers already calculate that the production may reach nearly 3.24 million units in the coming year, getting close to the capacity limit. The domestic market will be the greatest responsible for such increase, with a growth of 15%.