Auto supplier Varroc Lighting Systems Inc. is working with German company Mekra Lang GmbH & Co. to expand its manufacturing operations into Brazil.
Varroc Lighting Systems — once part of Visteon Corp. — and Mekra Lang, which makes vehicle mirrors and camera systems, will share a 66,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Sorocaba, Brazil, which Mekra Lang has used since 1998, according to a May 25 news release.
Mekra Lang of Ergersheim, Germany, will also supply Varroc Lighting with injection molding and administrative support in Brazil, the release said. Varroc Lighting expects to hire about 160 Brazilian employees to man the production team.
"Global automakers are increasingly looking for ways to reduce cost and complexity and increase efficiencies," Varroc Lighting Systems CEO Stephane Vedie said in the release. "By building both a physical presence and team in this critical market, we have become one of the world's only exterior lighting suppliers with capabilities on every continent where vehicles are produced."
Varroc Lighting is based in Plymouth, Mich., and is part of Varroc Group of Aurangabad, India.