Maxion Wheels has opened a new light vehicle aluminum wheel plant in Limeira, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The new plant, adjacent to the company's existing steel wheel plant, will add two million aluminum wheels per year in capacity and create an additional 500 new jobs by 2020.
According to Marcos Oliveira, Iochpe-Maxion's Chief Executive Officer, the new factory will meet the domestic Brazilian market's increasing demand for cars with aluminum wheels.
Iochpe-Maxion CEO Marcos Oliveira said: "Brazilian consumers are following the global trend for more sophisticated and stylish vehicles, which includes a growing demand for aluminum wheels on most new car models.
"Besides this investment in Limeira, Maxion Wheels recently expanded the production capacity of its aluminum wheel plant located in Santo André, Sao Paulo, by 50 percent, also in response to the market's growing demand."
Maxion Wheels Americas president Don Polk added that the company's ability to successfully launch the new plant is in large part due to the employees' dedicated performance.
He said: "Even in this moment of Brazil's severe economic crisis, Maxion Wheels continues to lead the wheel industry due to the commitment and effort put forth by our employees. We can always count on our people to deliver only the highest level of excellence in our products and services."
The new Maxion Wheels Limeira aluminum plant will open in two phases. In the first phase, production will reach 800,000 wheels per year. Phase two will complete the project, bringing production to two million wheels per year by 2020.
