Latin America
by Charles W. Thurston
Latin America Correspondent
thurstoncw@rodmanmedia.com
Arecord for 2013 production by Brazil’s automotive industry is encouraging billions of dollars
of new OEM investment in the country,
along with new investments by paint
and coatings manufacturers that supply
the segment. Production in 2013 was up
9. 9 percent to 3. 74 million units, compared with 3. 4 million the year before,
according to the Associação Nacional
dos Fabricantes de Veículos Automotores
(Anfavea), the national auto manufacturers association, in Sao Paulo.
This production level created a demand of $280 million for OEM automotive paints and coatings and $365
million for the automotive repair market out of a total of $4.28 billion in
sales for all segments last year, reckons the Associacao das Fabricantes de
Tintas (Abrafati), the national paint
and coatings manufacturers association, also in Sao Paulo.
Among the most recent announcements of new paints and coatings investments in Brazil was that of Axalta,
which reminded the industry that it is
in its third year of a $32 million investment in its Guarulhos, Sao Paulo state
factory complex. The company plans to
double its OEM waterborne production volume to 4. 5 million liters or 1. 2
million gallons, with the new capacity expected to be on line next year.
Axalta now provides the paint for one
in two new cars painted in Brazil, according to the company’s Latin America
Regional president Jorge Cossio, based
in Tlalnepantia de Baz, in the State of
Mexico. Additional investments will
bring the company’s five-year total to
$50 million by 2018, according to a
press statement by Antônio Carlos de
Oliveira, Axalta’s president in Brazil.
Cossio commented on plans for fur-
ther investments saying, “In Brazil, we
see a need for more investments in other
segments we serve, including repainting,
industrial, and transportation – includ-
ing the rail, truck and bus markets.”
Regionally, the company also plans new
investments. “Our revenues doubled
over the past ten years and our current
goal is to double them again in the next
five years,” he said. “We will continue
organic growth but also pursue oppor-
tunities in acquisitions and associations
across the region. One-third of our cor-
porate investment is now targeted in
Latin America,” he adds. “As a privately-
owned company we will reinvest in our
own company and seek out additional
financing if we need it.”
Axalta CEO Charlie Shaver was
quoted in Sao Paulo in September say-
ing that the company was studying new
acquisitions in the Latin American region
that could double its revenue base there
to $1.5 billion by 2018.
In the industrial segment, Axalta’s
Nap-Gard fusion bonded epoxy powder coating has been certified for pipe
coatings across the region, and the
company also is expanding in appliances and in energy applications, like
wind power. In power industries, the
company’s Voltatex electrical coatings
resins are being used to cut weight and
enhance performance, Cossio noted.
Industrial and automotive refinish customers also will see upgrades to the
company’s training centers in the near
future, Cossio added. Axalta now has
seven manufacturing centers in Latin
America and approximately 2,400 employees, apart from its broad network
of research and development and training centers. CW
Brazil’s Auto Industry Draws
OEMs and Axalta Investments
