(…) There are no such fears in Brazil. The Brazilian market is still dominated by the four firms that have been there longest--GM, Ford, VW and Fiat--and they have always managed without local partners. Last year their combined share of a market of 2.45m light passenger vehicles was 80%.
At Fiat’s Betim factory near the industrial city of Belo Horizonte in Brazil a new car rolls off the production line every 20 seconds. To meet surging domestic demand for new cars, Fiat, the market leader in Brazil, is working Betim flat out, three shifts a day. It is one of the most productive car factories in the world, capable of churning out 800,000 vehicles a year. The biggest concern for Cledorvino Belini, head of Fiat’s operations in Latin America, is that the furious pace of production is putting the complex "just-in-time" logistical system under strain. Cars awaiting transfer fill every corner of the 2.25m-square-metre (24.22m-square-foot) site, and new unloading bays are being constructed at breakneck speed to accommodate the endless flow of trucks delivering the parts.
Fiat, which began manufacturing in Brazil 32 years ago, allows its Brazilian arm a lot of autonomy. All its senior managers are Brazilian. They say they want Fiat to be seen as a Brazilian brand--an ambition they back up by sponsoring the shirts of no fewer than ten of Brazil’s best football teams. VW is even more of a veteran, having been in the country for 55 years. Although the top management is mostly German, it claims that Brazilians have strongly identified with the VW brand since the days when the Beetle was the country’s most popular car. More than 3m were produced at the firm’s giant Anchieta factory near São Paulo between 1959 and 1986.
With import taxes still at a swingeing 35% and other car taxes averaging more than 30%, depending on engine size and type, vehicle makers have little choice but to manufacture in Brazil. There was a time when Brazilians could be offered discontinued models from Europe, but apart from the very cheapest cars that is no longer acceptable. Both Fiat and VW now make some of their newest cars in Brazil, including some produced specially for the Brazilian market, such as the Fiat Palio and VW Gol. Both are rugged and small but roomy cars with a range of "flex-fuel" engines that run on any combination of ordinary petrol and cane-based ethanol.
The development of flex-fuel engines is the most striking example of the carmakers’ willingness to invest to meet the Brazilian market’s particular needs. The technology was developed by the Brazilian arm of Magneti Marelli, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fiat, and Robert Bosch, a German component-maker that has a close relationship with VW. Both car firms began equipping their vehicles with flex-fuel engines in 2003, and now such engines power nearly every car being made in Brazil. About half the fuel used by cars today in Brazil is ethanol.
For ordinary Brazilians the attraction is that it sells for little more than half the price of normal petrol, although its range is slightly shorter. The government is also keen on ethanol because the industry employs over a million people, saves on imports and provides insurance against high oil prices. It is also relatively clean, producing lower "well-to-wheel" emissions than petrol, unlike the corn-based ethanol being sold in America; and it is sustainable, taking up only 2% of land currently in agricultural use.
Both Fiat and VW emphasise the need to develop their cars locally. Bumpy, unmetalled roads call for good ground clearance and heavy-duty suspensions. Cars designed for European conditions would fall apart in just a few months in Brazil, says Fiat. Both makers have recently taken to producing what are known as "SUV-lite" versions of ordinary cars. There is a tough-looking Palio "Adventure" and a beefed-up small VW hatchback called the CrossFox. But the market is dominated by fairly spacious cars with small engines. Cars with engines up to one litre attract a lower level of purchase tax, making them the choice of more than half of Brazilians buying a new car. Cheapest of the lot is a Brazilian version of Fiat’s Uno, the Mille. Although it falls some way short of modern safety standards, the Mille has racked up sales of more than 2m in Brazil and is still going strong.
Finalmente, o texto destaca o aumento da competição no mercado brasileiro, com a entrada de novos fabricantes:
The biggest worry for Brazil’s big four is that the car business is rapidly becoming more competitive. Two French makers, PSA Peugeot Citroën and Renault, took nearly 8% of the market last year, followed by the Japanese, led by Toyota and Honda. Toyota is building a second factory in São Paulo that will come on stream in 2010 and produce a smaller, cheaper car than the Corolla it currently makes. The South Koreans are beginning to take an interest too. Jackson Schneider, the president of ANFAVEA, a trade body, predicts that by 2013 Brazil will be the world’s sixth-biggest car producer, turning out more than 5m cars, 4m of them for the domestic market.
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