Fiat Ups Brazil Investment

Italian car-maker Fiat has said it is to increase investment in Brazil by around $1 billion over the next three years. Fiat will spend the money at its local plant to develop new cars and technology in the face of increased competition from Volkswagen and General Motors, in particular in the small autos market which is benefiting from Brazil’s economic recovery. Fiat also wants to keep up with the technology of ethanol-consuming cars, popular in a country that has pioneered this fuel as a cost-effective alternative to gas. Almost 70% of cars produced in Brazil can run on ethanol, gasoline or a mixture of the two.