ajor auto manufacturers plan to carry out major expansion plans in Brazil and Argentina in the coming years.
      General Motors Brazil announced on July 15 that it plans to invest US$2 billion to launch a new family of vehicles and expand its Gravatai plant in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. GM Brazil president Jaime Ardila said funds for the investment will come from the company's cash flow and retained earnings over its recent fiscal years. About half will come from state-run banks. He said GM Brazil has recorded good profitability since 2006. Attending the announcement was Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
      The project includes launch of a new line of small cars for Brazil and emerging markets. About $1.4 billion will be invested in vehicle development and in the plant in Gravatai, which currently produces the Celta and Prisma models. The remainder will be invested in GM's other operations in Brazil.
      French car builder Renault plans to invest 500 million pesos ($128 million) over the next two years in its Santa Isabel plant in the central Argentina province of Cordoba to produce a new model and upgrade facilities. chering-Plough opened a new factory in Oss, the Netherlands, in June for the manufacturing of injectable pharmaceuticals. The company is investing €75 million (US$106 million). The factory is an expansion of the company's production capacity in Oss and is part of the company's biotechnology program. The building was designed to meet U.S. FDA requirements for future production for the U.S. market.
      "The new facility expands our capability to manufacture new biotechnology treatments in our pipeline," said Fred Hassan, chairman and CEO. "It also highlights the value of our operations in Oss."
      AMRI (Albany Molecular Research Inc.), which works on drug discovery and development projects and manufactures active ingredients for leading healthcare companies, launched a plan in 2008 to enhance its European hub through consolidation into a center of "higher value discovery services." That plan recently passed another milestone with the opening of a 32,300-sq.-ft. (3,000-sq.-m.) chemistry R&D facility in Budapest. AMRI says the facility offers improved operational efficiencies and provides capacity for the anticipated expansion of synthetic chemistry services, which the company projects to double over the next five years. E Energy opened a new technology center in Belfort, France, the company's European headquarters for the past decade and its international center of excellence for manufacturing of medium-sized gas turbines. The center will house up to 400 engineers from 15 countries. GE Energy currently employs about 2,000 in Belfort. The project represents a joint investment of €25 million (US$35 million) with Sempat (Société Patrimoniale du Territoire de Belfort).
      "We are opening our new technology center at a time when most of the world is discussing energy and environmental challenges such as growing demand, the effects of climate change and the need to reduce energy production costs," said Ricardo Cordoba, GE Energy's president for Western Europe and Northern Africa. anon has begun construction of its Nagasaki Canon factory after a delay of several months. Construction of the facility, which will produce digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras and compact digital cameras, had been delayed in response to the rapid decline in demand for digital cameras due to the global economic downturn. However, Canon said that the SLR camera market is recovering.
      Canon expects to open the first phase of the $150-million plant, which will employ 1,000, by April 2010.