Brazil was the fifth largest auto market in the world in 2011. Sales topped 3.6 million cars then and Chinese cars accounted for a quarter of the market. Interdependent synergy where bridges can be found?
For more, see
Transnational media financial coverage: China’s Cars Grab Brazil Market Share (Bloomberg, September 21, 2011)
Chinese state media coverage: Feature: Chinese cars win hearts of Brazil’s new middle class (Xinhua, October 17, 2012):
“No one had anything good to say about the quality of Chinese products in the past… That was the Brazilian people’s first impression of China,” Fernando Morais, general manager of the Chinese state-owned JAC dealership at Botafogo. It made 494,800 vehicles in 2011. Exports began in 1990 after 26 years of being established. They started with Bolivia, today its products are claimed to be sold in over a hundred countries.
For a perspective from an internationalist automotive journalist who was recently in Brazil, check out Motor Mouth: I’m going back to Brazil! (National Post, October 25, 2012):
Auto sales are growing so rapidly that traditional automakers — such as Volkswagen and Renault — are expanding their manufacturing base here (the French company expanded its Ayrton Senna complex to build 100,000 more cars), while even the Chinese upstarts — JAC, for instance — are offshoring to Brazil to beat local tariffs. (The Chinese presence at the Sao Paulo auto show is huge, dwarfing its national presence at any mainstream exhibition I’ve attended. Great Wall, Chery and the aforementioned JAC all had huge booths as did Changan and Haima, along with smaller participation by Jonway and Landwind.). But despite their obvious ambitions, their displays are definitely second-rate compared with even the cheapest of the established marques. Indeed, if their products lag mainstream brands as much as their show displays, it may be some time before they are competitive.
- – -
Chinese automakers to tap Brazil through local production
Staff Reporter
Source – Want China Times, published October 26, 2012
Chinese carmakers are setting up production bases in Brazil, which is currently the world’s fifth-largest auto market, to tap into the surging business opportunities offered by the South American country, Shanghai’s First Financial Daily reports.
On Oct. 23, Brazilian car distributor Districar announced that it will be adding Changan and Haima to the list of Chinese auto brands it distributes, including Chery and JAC, in Brazil from early next year.
The announcement preceded the Sao Paulo International Motor Show, which opened on the following day, where China’s Great Wall Motors unveiled its plan to enter the Brazilian market in the second half of 2013 and to set up factories in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under: Automotive, Beijing Consensus, Brazil, Charm Offensive, Chinese Model, Domestic Growth, Economics, Environment, Finance, Influence, Intellectual Property, International Relations, Modernisation, Peaceful Development, Public Diplomacy, Soft Power, Strategy, Technology, The Chinese Identity, The construction of Chinese and Non-Chinese identities, Trade, Brazil, China's Rise, Economics, International Relations, Public Diplomacy, Trade
The Sharing Circle