Fiat announces $1.8 billion car plant in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO: The Italian automaker Fiat SpA says it will spend $1.8 billion to build a factory in northeastern Brazil.

The president of Fiat Latin America, Cledorvino Belini, signed a contract on Tuesday calling for work to begin next year on the plant in the city of Pernambuco.

Belini says the factory will be producing 200,000 cars a year by 2014 and will also house a research and development facility.

Fiat has been making cars in Brazil since 1976, producing mostly for the domestic market.