Jaguar Land Rover says Rio factory to start producing in 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Jaguar Land Rover Ltd confirmed on Thursday its plans to invest 750 million reais to build a factory in Rio de Janeiro with a capacity of 24,000 vehicles per year.

The luxury unit of Tata Motors Ltd said production should begin in 2016. Jaguar Land Rover has about 53 percent of Brazil's luxury SUV market and plans to sell 10,000 vehicles next year compared with about 8,000 last year.

At first the factory will focus on the Brazilian market, before eventually considering exports to Latin America, the company's most senior executive in the region, Flavio Padovan, told journalists at a press conference.

 

(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)