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Originally Posted by JSH
Brazil is very difficult country to do business in. Issues with both labor and the government.
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It used to be worse due to previous governments. President Jair Bolsonaro is doing a good job despite frequent sabotages done in different levels of public administration.
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The plant had been operating at just 60% of maximum capacity and 19% of its truck capacity,[/B] as a result of Ford relying more heavily on its plant in Bahia state.
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Now that the Camaçari plant also makes 3-cyl engines, I guess the Taubaté engine plant might be endangered too. When it comes to operating under its capacity, I'm sure Ford's absence from the bus frames market since '99 might be part of the problem. Just to remind, front-engined buses which still rely basically on a slightly modified cabover truck frame remain widely used in Brazil, even though in cities such as Porto Alegre a minimum 210hp rating is mandatory. The phaseout of local medium-duty variants of the F-Series in 2005, that could be more competitive in some regional export markets and for special applications to which they still fare better, was another misfortune.