Brazil’s CAOA in talks to buy Ford factory

SAO PAULO: Brazilian automaker CAOA, which produces vehicles with Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co and China’s Chery Automobile Co, is in talks to buy a Ford Motor Co plant in the country that is slated to close by 2019, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

Ford announced earlier this month that it would shut down its São Bernardo do Campo plant, a sprawling complex in a suburb of São Paulo that employs some 3,000 people.

In 2018, Ford said it used only 12 per cent of its installed capacity in the plant, which is its oldest in the country.

Shutting the plant is part of Ford’s wider move to stop producing heavy commercial trucks in South America. It also produces the Fiesta small car at the plant. Negotiations have not been finalized, the source said.— Reuters