Chinese automotive group Lifan will only invest in a vehicle assembly plant in Brazil once car sales increase in the country, the group’s chairman, Yin Mingshan said in Chongqing, China.

The Lifan group expects to sell between 12,000 and 15,000 vehicles in Brazil in 2014, but the target is to reach 20,000 vehicles sold per year.

Yin Mingshan also said that the five-year target was for Brazil to account for 3 percent of worldwide turnover for the group, which in 2012 sold a total of 300,000 vehicles.

In order to reach that target the group is setting up a parts distribution centre in Sao Paulo, which is due to be finished this month, as well as expanding its dealership network across Brazil.

Before investing in a factory in Brazil the group plans to expand its operations in Uruguay in order to achieve the required level of local incorporation required by the agreement between the two Latin American countries, of 30 percent in 2012, 40 percent in 2013, 50 percent in 2014 and 60 percent as of 2015.

In order to reach those local incorporation targets, the Lifan group also plans to invest US$200 million in its Uruguayan engine factory in an initial stage and later in its car body assembly and painting unit in a second stage. (macauhub)