Automotive industry in Brazil

The first Brazilian automotive industry was the work of Henry Ford, who started the Brazilian subsidiary of Ford Motor Company in 1919, assembling Model T cars and TT trucks in São Paulo. In 1921 Ford opened its own production facility, known as Solon Plant. Ford was followed by General motors in 1926 with the assembly of the first Chevrolet cars in São Paulo. [Sydney A. Latini, A Implantação da Indústria Automobilística no Brasil, Editora Alaúde, 2007, p. 92]

In 1956, in the city of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste (São Paulo), the Romi-Isetta, an early Brazilian car, was first produced. In 1958, Toyota started to produce its famous Land Cruiser. In 1959, in the municipality of São Bernardo do Campo, the first Volkswagen factory was built. It started manufacturing the Kombi, which preceded the famous Beetle (known in Brazil as Fusca). At the same time, a Brazilian entrepreneur, Mr. Sebastiao William Cardoso, started producing an electrical small jeep called Tupi. In 1967, Puma began selling sports cars.

Chevrolet and Ford started manufacturing trucks in 1957 and work vehicles and automobiles in Brazil in the 1960s. The Italian giant Fiat established its first factory in Brazil in the 1970s, and Mercedes Benz started to produce trucks and buses during the 1950s, and eventually opened an automobile factory in 1998.

These companies dominated the Brazilian market until the middle 1990s when the Brazilian market was finally opened to imports. In the 1990s, more auto companies settled and opened factories in Brazil, including: Nissan, Renault, Peugeot, Citroën, Honda, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Chrysler and Audi.

Currently, the most successful genuine Brazilian auto company is Troller, with its T4 and Pantanal models. It sells all over Latin America and Africa. In the last few years, the Brazilian auto industry has grown quickly, attracting investments from the main global automakers. In 2007, Brazilian production grew 14% compared to 2006 figures, reaching more than 3 million vehicles.

Since 2008 Brazil has passed France and became highest achieved world's sixth largest producer but then was beaten by India in 2011 and slightly down to 7th place.

In October 2012, the Inovar-Auto program was approved by decree with the theoretical goals of encouraging automakers to produce more fuel efficient vehicles and investing in the national automotive industry, by managing taxation exceptions (IPI = tax over industrialized product). However, the program has received criticism, especially of protectionism. Recently, Brazil lost a WTO dispute against tax advantages and illegal practices of protectionism.[1]

• List of automobiles manufactured in Brazil
• Troller Veículos Especiais
• Ethanol fuel in Brazil