Japanese suppliers in Latin America (Part 2): Trends in Brazil and Mexico

Investment by Kasai Kogyo, Kinugawa Rubber, Jatco, Tachi-S, Denso, F-Tech, and KYB

2014/03/10

Summary

  This report is the second part of the trend report on Japanese parts suppliers in Central and South America. It summarizes the trends of production capacity improvement in Mexico and the trends in Brazil (for nine months until early February 2014). For the trends of new business operations started in Mexico, please refer to the  Part 1.

 The automobile production volume in 2013 in Brazil was 3.71 million units (9.1% increase y/y), the sales volume was 3.77 million units (0.1% increase y/y), and the export volume was 560,000 units (26.5% increase y/y). In January 2014, the production volume was 290,000 units (18.7% decrease y/y). While the sales volume increased by 0.4% y/y to 310,000 units, the export volume decreased by 28.9% y/y to 36,000 units due to the influence of import regulations imposed by Argentina on Brazilian products. The automakers are adjusting their excessive inventories (the Argentine government announced at the end of 2012 that it would reduce the number of imported vehicles by 27.5% in 2013 to avoid the outflow of foreign currency). Most American and European automakers, however, are increasing their production capacity. Among Japanese automakers, Toyota and Nissan are preparing for the release of new models by constructing new plants.

[Expansion of production capacity and strengthening of business structures in Mexico]
Capacity addition to the existing plants  Kinugawa Rubber, Nippon Seiki, Hitachi Chemical, Unipres Corporation, Ryobi
Establishment of new companies/plants  Establishment of new firm: Bridgestone, Tachi-S
 Construction of second plant: Exedy, Kasai Kogyo, Jatco, Tachi-S
 Construction of third plant: Denso
 Construction of fourth plant: Mitsuba
Establishment of new business centers  R&D center: Kasai Kogyo (plan); Reorganization of production system: Hitachi Metals (plan), Sales company : Toyo Tire & Rubber

[New business development in Brazil]

Establishment of new companies (new plants)  Asahi Glass, Sumitomo Rubber, Nishikawa Rubber, Furukawa Electric
Production capacity enhancement  KYB, Toyobo (constructed a new plant), Nisshinbo (relocated to a new plant), Bridgestone

 Japanese Suppliers Related Reports:
Japanese suppliers in Central & South America (part 1): New plants in Mexico (Mar. 2014),
Thailand (1) (Jan. 2014), Thailand (2) (Jan. 2014), ASEAN (Nov. 2013),
Russia and Eastern Europe (Oct. 2013), India (Sep. 2013),
Northern/Northeastern/Southwestern China (Aug. 2013), Southern and Central China (Aug. 2013), Eastern China (Jul. 2013),
the U.S. (Jul. 2013), Mexico and Brazil (Jun. 2013)

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