GM Brazil Confident In Growth

The Brazilian market, notorious for bipolar ups and downs, is in the midst of another high, but this time there are signs the recovery may last, says General Motors Corp.'s top executive in the region.

That's good news for GM, which counts more heavily on non-North American operations for an increasing chunk of its revenues and is beginning to eye adding third shifts at its South American assembly plants to keep pace with demand.

Brazil is the cornerstone of GM's Latin America, Africa and Middle East (LAAM) operations, but it isn't the only market going gangbusters, says LAAM President Maureen Kempston Darkes.

Industry sales jumped 15% to 3.35 million units in the first six months of 2007, on top of 15.9% growth to 6.08 million vehicles in 2006. That compares with 3.64 million units in 2002.

GM LAAM, which sold a record 1,035,277 vehicles last year, easily is on pace to exceed that in 2007, with first-half sales, at 564,000 units, 19% ahead of like-2006. The region accounted for 11.4% of GM's worldwide vehicle volume last year, up from 7.1% four years ago.

Production is on the rise, with GM LAAM forecasting output of 973,683 vehicles this year.