weekly_edition_872

10 S ão Paulo – BorgWarner is finalizing investment plans for its plant in Brazil after signing new contracts for supplying to the OEM market. This very year it will expand its turbochargers production in Itatiba, SP, and will start to produce locally the start-stop system in Brusque, SC. The company’s board, which is based in Detroit, MI, has met directors of the Brazilian branch last week to finalize the decision on the amount of the investment, still being debated. The car manufacturers who have already signed contracts are silent too. The final number will be announced next week, when Vitor Maierello, director general for the Brazilian operation, will travel to the US to define details with the head office: “After we decide the amount to be invested we will be in a position to discuss how many additional turbo units we will produce in Brazil”. The flex turbo that will be supplied for the new contracts is quite similar to what the company already makes available for the Volkswagen cars. Last year BorgWagner produced 100 thousand units in the São Paulo plant to serve VW demand, which has gone up with the introduction of the T-Cross compact SUV. Local production of the start-stop system, in turn, became viable to serve a local client, said Maiellaro. The localization of components, the exec went on, comes at a time when the car manufacturers are deciding on the technologies to be used in the product launches so as to attain the goals of efficiency determined by Rota 2030, the new industrial policy in the automotive sector: “What we have seen with clients is a trend towards a mix of technologies based on three-cylinder engines. Nobody should offer one option only”. In the Brusque plant, a result of the acquisition of Remy International in 2015, they produce starter motors for Hyundai and General Motors and also for trucks. According to BorgWagner, installed capacity in the BorgWarner to nationalize production of the start-stop AUTO PARTS By Bruno de Oliveira e Caio Bednarski. The company will also invest in the expansion of turbochargers factory in order to serve the new OEM contracts