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WORLD REPORTS

Tramagal, Greenest Countries, Novelis in Brazil, IBM in Africa

by Patty Rasmussen

The FUSO Canter Truck plant in Tramagal, Portugal, celebrated its 50th anniversary in early February. The original plant was started as a joint venture in 1964 by the Portuguese Duarte Ferreira firm and French manufacturer Berliet. Though the original collaboration with Mitsubishi occurred in 1980, the company wasn’t acquired by Mitsubishi until 1996. In 2004, Daimler bought the controlling shares of the company. The plant has over 300 employees and has produced more than 200,000 vehicles in its 50-year history. Over the past four years, Daimler Trucks has invested approximately US$37 million (€27 million) to transform and modernize production operations and further develop the FUSO Canter, the best-selling truck in the company’s truck portfolio. Nearly 95 percent of the vehicles are exported, primarily to Germany, the UK and France.