GM's CEO Sees Brazil as Key Market

General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson said Brazil is still playing a key role in the company's global strategy and admitted its willingness to continue the same plan and reinvest profits of the Brazilian division in the local operations. Henderson said in an interview for O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper that he plans to visit the Brazilian factory in November and discuss with local officials future expansion plans.

Last month, thousands of GM workers went on strike in Brazil asking for better wages. The 10,500 employees working at GM’s Sao Caetano do Sul plant and the 8,500 people from the San Jose dos Campos facility stopped work in early September after GM announced it could only offer a wage increase of 6.53 percent and a 1,750 reais ($972) bonus.

According to reports that surfaced at that time, the Sao Caetano plant employees demanded a 10 percent raise while those at the other facility asked for a wage increase of 14.65 percent.

Also in September, GM Brazil opened the biggest technical center in Latin America after investing a total of $100 million for the new facility.

“GM do Brasil was elected by GM as one of the global product development centers in 2006. Since then, we have started to invest on new buildings and resources to increase our engineering and design expertise to fully comprehend the entire process of designing, building and validating vehicles for Brazil and the global market," said Jaime Ardila, president GM do Brasil and Mercosur.

"The expansion of the tech center in São Caetano do Sul is fundamental to support the company’s initiative to refresh its portfolio and to offer to the Brazilian customers the best cars and trucks in the market," José Carlos Pinheiro Neto, vice-president GM do Brasil, added.