Stellantis will hire about 1,500 workers for its operation in Brazil this year, most of them to the Betim Minas Gerais Fabric Complex, the company’s largest in the world, South America said Emanuele Cappellano.
The executive also said in an interview with journalists that Stellantis will launch the first cars of its Chinese partner Leapmotor in Brazil and Chile this year. The electrified models will come imported from China, the executive said without giving details about the vehicles.
About 1,200 of the new workers will be destined for Betim, where the group produces Fiat models, and the volume of hiring will raise the number of employees to approximately 17,000, the company said.
“Betim is working full, with some areas in two shifts and others in three, but it is” Full “,” said Cappellano in the interview, adding that in the complex Stellantis has an engineering hub with four thousand employees. “Growth prospects are leading us to hire,” said the executive.
Currently, Betim has the capacity to produce 630,000 vehicles, 1.1 million engines and 540,000 broadcasts per year.
Fiat ended 2024 in the leadership of the Brazilian vehicle market for the fourth consecutive year, with a 29.4%share, and the compact pickup Strada as the country’s best -selling vehicle, according to the company’s data. In South America, Stellantis led the market last year, with a slice of 22.9%.
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Cappellano stated that the rest of the new hires will be intended mainly to the Stellantis factory in Porto Real (RJ), which currently produces models from Citroen. In addition to the two poles, the group also has a factory in Goiana (PE), responsible for the production of vehicles from Jeep and RAM brands and is completing 10 years of operations.
The company is in a period of silence before the release of results of 2024, scheduled for February 26, and Cappellano avoided making projections for the region’s markets for this year. The Association of automakers, Anfavea, estimates that sales of new vehicles in Brazil, sixth largest market in the world, will grow 5.6% in 2025, to 2.8 million units.
Leapmotor
Cappellano avoided nailing Leapmotor’s launch date in Brazil, but said the company will make an event about the Chinese brand in April, when it should announce the first models that will be sold in the Brazilian market and Chile.
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The specialized media published that the company would launch the brand at the end of last year. Asked, the executive said on Thursday that Stellantis wants to “be assured that he could launch a product consistent with the market.”
Although the operation of the new brand starts with imported cars, “we will hardly have a continuity of growth without strong location of our products,” he said about a possible local production.
The Stellantis agreement with Leapmotor gives Stellantis “flexibility” of “producing elsewhere” other than China.
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The preparation of the arrival of Leapmotor occurs at a time when traditional automakers installed in Brazil, through Anfavea, evaluate with an anti -dumping process against Chinese brands that have imported large volumes of vehicles to the country in the last two years, notably BYD and GWM, while preparing the beginning of local productions in their own factories.
Asked about the return of the São Paulo Motor Show, scheduled for this year, Cappellano said: “I want Leapmotor to participate,” but gave no details.
The president of Stellantis to South America also said that Fiat will start producing in Argentina the average titan pickup, which disputes market in Brazil with models of automakers such as Toyota, Ford and GM.
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Stellantis announced last year’s $ 385 million investment at its factory in Cordoba, Argentina, to produce a new family family, Titano, the automotive group said on Thursday, is one of the new models. to be produced in the unit. The pickup will be the first to be produced by Stellantis in Argentina.
