Scania to invest R$1.4bn in São Bernardo

Swedish heavy automobile giant, Scania, announced yesterday (21 May) its decision to invest R$1.4bn in the modernization of its São Bernardo do Campo factory between 2021 and 2024. The investment reinforces the company’s plan to enable the plant to produce trucks and buses that can run on alternative fuels.

Scania will initially invest R$75m to expand its research and development facility at the factory and improve industrial logistics.

Next year the Swedish company will enter its final phase of an exisiting investment programme for Brazil that started in 2016, which mainly involves adapting the São Bernardo plant to follow the company’s plans to reduce emissions and pollution emitted by its vehicles.

Ford’s decision to close its oldest Brazilian factory in São Bernardo do Campo and shut down its heavy truck business in South America as part of the company’s global restructuring program is set to benefit Scania. The Swedish company predicted a rise of between 10 and 20% in the sale of its 16-ton plus trucks fabricated in Brazil, due to Ford’s closure. The increase in production, if reached, means the company should produce between 58,000 and 63,000 units this year.

Scania’s truck sales rose 50% to 8,643 units in 2018 year-on-year. Of the total number of trucks sold, 8,028 were heavy and accounted for 23% of the market share. The company is optimistic that truck sales are likely to thrive as the country’s booming agribusiness continues to grow, and companies add to their fleets.

“Our investment rate was R$100m per year, but now, in order to meet the new trends related to world transport, we need to raise the level,” the president of Scania in Latin America, Christopher Podgorski, said. Most of Scania’s production from São Bernardo is exported.

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