Carmakers are investing more than $30 billion by 2018 to expand or open more factories in Brazil than ever before, but that doesn’t make the market a success story.

BMW spent $250 million on its first factory in Brazil, which started operating earlier this month and will reach annual output of 32,000 cars in three to four years. That compares with a $1 billion investment in a new factory to build 150,000 cars in Mexico by the end of the decade.