Fiat announces US$1.8b car plant in Brazil

The Italian automaker Fiat SpA says it will spend US$1.8 billion to build a factory in northeastern Brazil.

The president of Fiat Latin America, Cledorvino Belini, signed a contract last Tuesday calling for work to begin next year on the plant in the city of Pernambuco.

Belini says the factory will be producing 200,000 cars a year by 2014, and will also house a research and development facility.

Fiat has been making cars in Brazil since 1976, producing mostly for the domestic market.

- AP