Ford Motor Co, the No. 2 U.S.-based automaker, plans to invest 2.8 billion reais ($1.61 billion) in Brazil to boost output at two plants by 20 percent, a top company executive said on Friday.

The company expects the investments to create 1,000 jobs and increase output at plants in northeastern Brazil to 300,000 cars from 250,000 now, said Marcos de Oliveira, the company's chief executive for Brazil and the Mercosur region. Oliveira made the comments at an event with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and other government officials in the country's northeastern state of Bahia.

($1=1.737 reais)

(Reporting by Peter Murphy; Writing by Elzio Barreto; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)