GM to invest $2.8 billion in Brazil in five years: CEO

General Motors Co will invest 6.5 billion reais ($2.8 billion) in Brazil over the next five years, Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in Brasilia after meeting President Dilma Rousseff, Barra said the new investment will spent on new products, technology and maintaining plants. She said there were some mid-term challenges ahead, but that GM was committed to one of its most important markets.

Barra said she also thanked Rousseff for tax incentives for automakers and improved credit conditions in Brazil.

Brazil's auto industry, which makes up one-fifth of the country's manufacturing output, has slashed production by 16 percent in the first seven months of the year and laid off thousands of workers.

(1 US dollar = 2.2696 Brazilian real)

(Reporting by Carolina Marcello; Writing by Alonso Soto; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)