The Brazilian automotive industry started in 1956, in the city of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste (São Paulo) with the production of the Romi-Isetta. 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 and work vehicles and automobiles in Brazil in the 1960s. The Italian giant Fiat established its first factory in Brazil in the 1960s, and Mercedes Benz started to produce trucks and buses during this time, 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.
Preliminary numbers from 2008 show that Brazil has passed France and its the worlds fifth largest producer.
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