The plant, inaugurated in 1999 at the Ayrton Senna production site in Curitiba, has already manufactured nearly 2.5m engines, of which 335,813 in 2011. The site has also exported over 1.2m powerplants to South American markets.

Brazil, the Renault group’s number-two market, is a key pillar in the Group’s international expansion strategy. Thanks to the success of Duster and Sandero, Renault reported the biggest increase of any car brand in Brazil in first-half 2012, achieving record market share of 6.8%. Renault is aiming for an 8% share of the market by 2016.

Renault has three plants at Curitiba at the Ayrton Senna Complex: a passenger-car plant, a light-commercial-vehicle plant and an engine plant. Annual PC and LCV capacity is over 280,000 units. This total will be increased by 100,000 vehicles a year starting in early 2013, said Carlos Ghosn last October.