The Daimler-Chrysler group announced on Tuesday it would produce the Mercedes-Benz C-Sports Coupe, a luxury car model, in Brazil.

Production is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2007 at the company's plant in Juiz de Fora, in Brazil's southeastern state of Minas Gerais.

Daimler-Chrysler currently makes the C-Sports Coupe, the sports version of the C-Class, in one of its Mercedes-Benz plants in Germany. The company has decided to have the German plant focus on the production of newer C-Class models and the C-Sports Coupe exclusively made in Juiz de Fora.

The decision was welcomed by the local workers' union, as there were rumors that the company was considering closing the unit, which used to be dedicated to the production of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class, a compact model which had suffered from slack sales.

The company discontinued the production of the A-class model in August 2005. It is temporarily making other models in Juiz de Fora.

With the C-Sports Coupe production, which the company said it would be making in Juiz de Fora until at least 2011, the plant was expected to keep its 1,100 workers and might even have to hire more employees, according to local union leaders.

Source: Xinhua