Automotive Logistics South America Summit 2012

The Automotive Logistics South America Summit, held this week in Sao Paulo, revealed a Brazilian market that is forecast to grow solidly in vehicle sales and production over the next decade, with carmakers and tier suppliers continuing to invest in manufacturing in the region.

However, OEMs and tier suppliers face numerous headwinds. They include an uncompetitive cost base for labour, taxation and raw material costs, an appreciating currency hurting exports, and poor, underfunded infrastructure that has led to high logistics costs.