RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Audi announced on Wednesday, 29, an investment of R$100 million (US$20 million) to resume vehicle production at the plant in São Jose dos Pinhais, a suburb of the Paraná state capital Curitiba. The resumption of operations in Brazil comes after more than a year of downtime.
According to the company, the amount will be used to upgrade the assembly line with new machinery, quality control equipment and information technology and logistics infrastructure systems.
Audi’s CEO in Brazil, Daniel Rojas, and the governor of Paraná, Ratinho Junior, were present at the announcement of the plant’s reopening.
The models chosen in the resumption of domestic production are the new Audi Q3 and Audi Q3 Sportback, both equipped with 2.0-liter engine of 231 hp.
The plant will initially have a maximum production capacity of four thousand vehicles per year, which will be produced in two shifts. The vehicles produced will originally be destined only for the domestic consumer market.
“Audi has a solid and long-standing relationship with Brazil, and even after the interruption of operations last year, we have always believed in the country’s potential for recovery and growth. That’s why the company has made an effort to restart local production to boost confidence in the country and reliability among customers with two of its most important global products,” said Daniel Rojas, CEO of Audi do Brasil.