Rather than build a new factory elsewhere, the firm has tried to squeeze the most out of its existing investment at Betim: total daily output from the factory reached a record of 2, 345 cars in April this year (of which almost 1, 500 were Palios), up from only 750 a day in 1991.

ECONOMIST: A car is born

Factory output, the most important component of industrial production, was dragged lower by a steep 3.2 percent decline in auto and auto parts production.

WSJ: US factory output falls on weak auto production

Or it may see in Sharp and its Sakai factory, from which Hon Hai will eventually take half the output, the promise of a technological step up.

ECONOMIST: Hon Hai and Sharp