At Brazil auto show, industry wonders if it can get any worse

Automakers in Brazil are facing the sharpest slowdown since 1999 and it could be a year or more before things turn the corner. "It looks like the market is in for a difficult time until 2016," said Koji Kondo, Toyota Motor Corp's chief executive in Brazil, citing labor costs, rising taxes and infrastructure bottlenecks as a persistent problem. "It's hard for Brazil's economic conditions to recover in the short term." Brazil's slump combined with an erratic Argentine economy could leave as much as 50 percent of the industry's capacity in South America unused next year, said Rogelio Goldfarb, Ford Motor Co's (F.N) head of corporate affairs in the region.

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