Renault-Nissan to double Brazil market

French-Japanese alliance Renault-Nissan plans to double its share of the Brazilian auto market by 2016, group president Carlos Ghosn said Saturday. In order to meet his goals, Ghosn will announce two major investments Wednesday and Thursday for the two brands in Brazil, but he declined to provide those figures in advance. Science and Technology Minister Aloizio Mercadante said the funding would help expand the Renault-Nissan plant in southern Parana state and create a new one in Rezende city, in Rio de Janeiro state. Announcements on manufacturing electric cars were also expected. "We have set a goal to double our market share by 2016, to exceed 13 percent. Renault aims to exceed eight percent, and Nissan five percent," Ghosn said after talks with President Dilma Rousseff. "The alliance has a market share in Brazil today that is far less than its global level (10 percent). In Brazil, it's 6.5 percent (5.5 percent for Renault and about one percent for Nissan. Of course, we think we have far greater potential than that." He said Renault-Nissan considers the Brazil market to be among "the most strategic" ones. According to the ANFAVEA association of Brazilian auto manufacturers, the country of 190 million inhabitants has over 30 million vehicles. Fiat leads the market with a 22.7 percent shares of sales, followed by Volkswagen's 22.3 percent and GM with 19.8 percent.