Fiat to invest $7bn in Brazil

Italian carmaker Fiat is upping its stake in Brazil, pouring about $7 billion into local investments by 2016, according to a plan its CEO Sergio Marchionne handed President Dilma Rousseff. The company's plans expand -- dramatically so -- on an earlier outline that called for about $4 billion in investment between 2011-2014, state news agency Agencia Brasil reported. The outlays will fund building and expansions of factories in Brazil, the agency said. The investment by Fiat, Brazil's biggest automaker, will create about 7,700 jobs directly and another 12,000 indirectly nationwide in the South American powerhouse. Brazil is the world's fourth largest car market. It saw record sales of 3.8 million vehicles in 2012.