Peugeot Citroen plans 737.8 mln USD investment in Brazil

French auto giant PSA Peugeot Citroen planned to invest 530 million euros (737.8 million U.S. dollars) in Brazil to bolster a Porto Real-based plant, local media reported Wednesday. Chairman of PSA's Supervisory Board Thierry Peugeot was in Brazil to finalize a factory extension plan worth 530 million euros to boost the group's output and expand its range, Les Echos, a local daily specializing in business news, quoted its own sources as saying. With the new investment, the company hopes to produce 400,000 vehicles per year up from 220,000 planned for the existing production facilities, according to the report. The automaker, the biggest in France and the second largest in Europe, announced earlier Wednesday that it could slash 5,000 non-production posts in Europe as part of a cost-cutting plan worth 800 million euros (1.113 billion U.S. dollars). The company saw the sales of its automotive division, the pillar sector, fall 1.6 percent to 9.3 billion euros (12.9 billion dollars) in September due to price competition and loss in production volume. However, its total revenue for the third quarter rose 3.5 percent to 13.45 billion euros (18.72 billion dollars). Early this year, the auto giant expected in its near-term outlook a stabilization of the European car market, a 7 percent growth in the Chinese market, some 6 percent and 30 percent growth for Latin American and Russian markets respectively. Enditem