[Ed: According to Google Analytics: 90% of TTAC’s readers come from the US and Canada. India accounts for .28%; China .27%; Brazil .24%]
According to Alexa, about half of TTAC’s readers come from the U.S.A., the other half comes from the rest of the world. An amazing 12 percent come from India, must be Sajeev’s extended family. We have a sizable contingent of readers in South America, despite the dearth of articles about the booming auto industry down south. This is about to change …
Please welcome longtime commentator FromBrazil as TTAC’s new Southern Hemisphere correspondent. In the process, he had to reveal his true identity: Marcelo de Vasconcellos (actually, it’s Marcelo Rodrigues de Vasconcellos, but we cut him down to size.) Marcelo will inform and hopefully entertain you with stories from the first of the BIC countries, from Brazil.
Oi Marcelo!
Welcome to TTAC. As a fellow brazilian, I am glad we have one to represent our country in this excellent blog. Brazilians have a long tradition in F1 and other leagues: Senna, Piquet, Massa. Unfortunately, the brazilian consumer has a long tradition of driving garbage. Take the fact that still in the 1980’s about 90% of cars were VolksWagen Beetles (the old one). Then today the average driver can have their pick of Fiat 500s, Ka, and other tin box death traps. Fiat 500s not that bad you say? Try driving the one made in Brazil… My cousin had a Toyota Corolla. This is the only brand new Toyota I have ever seen with a shot clutch: made in Brazil. Yes, when you see those 3 words you can think of the following 2 words: engineered obsolescence. No brazilian car lasts more than 5 years and by 3 years of use it is practically in ruins.
And going for an import will take you for the shock of your life. For instance, the base price for a BMW 335i in Brazil: $135 thousand dollars (converted from Real of course). Yes, a $42k car will cost you over 3-times as much in Brazil as the import tax is over 200%. But even if you got the dough it will all be for nothing: if it doesn’t get robbed, which I seriously doubt, the giant potholes will destroy the suspension in no time. Welcome Marcelo!
“No brazilian car lasts more than 5 years and by 3 years of use it is practically in ruins.”
!!!!. Amazing.
Even Lada Zhigulis are more durable than that.
Is car manufacturing so bad in Brazil or what?. Here in Spain nationally manufactured cars also self destructed after 5-10 years of use until the 1970s. In those times tariffs made the imported car a status symbol for the (very few) super-rich Spaniards.
My particular taste in petrol-headness find that the cars produced in Brazil (Egypt, Turkey, South Africa…) are more interesting than those toys for the mega-rich called Ferraris. Much more interesting.
Olá tauronmaikar and hola A is A.
A little bit of hyperbole on your part no? Brazilian cars have been improving dramatically over the last 2 decades. Up until the end of the 80s, I’d take what you said without any hesitation. Now, that’s not so true anymore.
Case in point, my own little Fiat Palio is 4 almost 5 years old now. With about 32000 miles on the clock. I just took it to have my preventive maintenance 50 000 km (31000miles) as I do every 10 000km and at the end of the day my mechanic calls me up and says it’s ready. When I get there he presents me the bill, roughly 60 dollars! All he did was change the oil, coolant water, brake oil and some filters. No parts were necessary to change as no parts were near failing. And bear in mind that on this car the only thing I’ve changed so far is the dented belt(At 40K), brake pads (at 30k) and the tyres (at 20k, but I wore them out on purpose as I wanted to get bigger tyres than the ones that came on the car, so I did’nt take car of them) and assorted fluids , filters and oils.
Just that. At 30000miles is testament that the cars are now better assembled. And will last. Do maintenance people!
My company builds motion (driving) simulators, and we’ve run into the same thing: Huge demand from Brazilians who love the sport… and absurd taxes that make exporting to Brazil untenable.
Cool. More pics of Brazilian chicks.
Bem vindo, Marcelo. Many interesting news to cover from here. How about a new Uno review to start with?
Boa sorte,
Autobraz, from Mogi das Cruzes.
tauronmaikar:
“No brazilian car lasts more than 5 years and by 3 years of use it is practically in ruins.”
Well, my Ford Focus is in its third year and doing very well… but it is made in Argentina!
Obrigado Autobraz.
Interesting times indeed. Will be keeping an eye on, among other developing stories, will GM overtake VW for second place? Will Fiat have enough production capacity to keep in 1st? Will the new Uno really be the huge hit and kill the Mille or will just cannibalize the Palio? Will the market crash as incentives and incentive-pricing winds down?
Lots to talk about.
Besides news and reviews, TTAC readers may be interested in some pieces on car history here. Some suggestions if you ever feel like writing them:
– Gurgel
– Autolatina
– When the market was closed to imports and what happened when it was opened.
– GM’s rise and fall (I am thinking about the Monza and later first Vectra and Corsa period compared to now) and its relation to global GM.
– Why are cars so expensive here (taxes, cartel, etc)
Hi Marcelo! Looking forward to your articles.
Allow me to summarize:
– Gurgel
Was a fraud. It failed not because of a conspiracy by foreign automakers or because the government didn’t support it. It failed because they made crappy cars compared to the competition. And they got millions of dollars in loans from the government – all of which was defaulted.
– When the market was closed to imports and what happened when it was opened.
Cars were ridiculously expensive, and when it opened it just turned a little less ridiculous.
– GM’s rise and fall (I am thinking about the Monza and later first Vectra and Corsa period compared to now) and its relation to global GM.
I can’t see their “fall.” Brazilian people still love GM and their crappy cars. Want proof? You’ll just have to look at the sales numbers for the “New” Classic. For those of you who don’t know, when the Chinese Chevrolet Sail went out of production, they shipped the tooling over to Brazil to manufacture the “New” Classic.
– Why are cars so expensive here (taxes, cartel, etc)
I think taxes and cartel pretty much sums it up. The government makes a lot of money from taxes.
But why would anyone change anything? Brazilian people don’t want it anyways. Everyone is happy with the “nacionais,” although I can’t see how foreign companies can ever be seen as such.
And who buys cars in Brazil? People who don’t have a clue. That’s why automakers in Brazil can get away with selling cars on ancient platforms. Even China has C-NCAP, where is BR-NCAP? Oh that’s right, who cares about safety? They just want a “new” car to show off to the neighbors.
All this reminds me of:
“O problema do Brasil é que, quem elege os governantes não é o pessoal que lê jornal, mas quem limpa a bunda com ele!”
PS: Here’s a subliminal message from Peugeot to the Brazilian people:
http://imgur.com/8maQC.jpg
(not a Photoshop)
Notes taken Autobraz. Thanks.
Analyst: yes and yes. But in the case of Gurgel, Fiat’s involvement in getting the government to lower taxes for the 1.0 engine in such a non-characteristic record time had something to do with it no? Anyway, I agree Gurgel and his company were running out of gas by then, but..
Hey Analyst LOL! and Yikes!
Had been very busy so hadn’t clicked on the link yet. Just did. Wow. They have whole marketing departments to take care of these things. How does this slip by?
Oi e bom dia a todos!
(Hello and good morning to all!)
I was pleasantly surprised by an invitation from our own Mr. Bertel Schmitt to become a contributor to this site. As a long time reader and poster, I thought why not?
I hope you all will be happy with my writing!
Take it as a chance to see a situation many worlds apart from what goes on, especially to the northern hemisphere of this Earth. Down here we are all used to reading about you guys up there (and envying you all a little). Now’s your chance to read something about us down here. Who knows you might find it interesting and worth your while.
At last some hard truths. Usually when I comment on the state of the automotive industry in Brazil I get a bunch of negative comments from Brazilians in denial of their own sorry state. Not so this time. It is refreshing to see that TTAC readers say it like it is!
Truth: Yes it is sad but Brazilians are happy which their tin box death traps powered by a sewing machine engine and 4 wheels taken from a shopping cart. Manufacturers laugh their way to the bank when they sell tons of the latest year model with the same 10+ years old platform so dumb consumers can show off their new status symbol to their neighbors.
Truth: Airbags are still an expensive option, over $1000 in fact, even for the driver. And those cars really need it. With no real suspension to speak off, tiny crappy wheels, lightweight chassis built for $10 dollars and cheap labor, swiss cheese roads, crazy drivers, no urban engineering whatsoever, no traffic law enforcement, the brazilian driver brave the street and risk their lives every day. Accidents are usually fatal, sometimes leaving no corpse for an autopsy.
Every December I go back to Brazil to spend christmas with family and drive the cars over there. When I come back my 2000 Acura Integra feels like nothing short of a Lambourghini. What a cheap way to feel in a $180,000 car for an airplane ticket!!!
You are again tauromaikar, absolutely right. Brazilian industry does not produce anything resembling your Acura. But if it did, who’d pay for it?
But there are apples and oranges. A Mille is a frightfully unsafe car. The new Uno is not that much. And the 500 has what, 8 airbags?No, it’s Brazilian cars are in no way at the bleeding edge of technology, but some at least offer airbags and ABS and ESC. The problem is, who buys them? Last I heard the number was around 10%. And Fiat, for example, has to be at least recognized for making the effort. They bundled the airbags and ABS together in a package, forced the price down and offer it for slightly more than 1,000USD. Now, that’s a price that’s becoming realistic.
And not too sound like a gadfly, but looking on the bright side, since these cars are so raw, you feel much more connected to them. A sentiment many have expressed on this site they’d like to get back in their 1st world car. The market is evolving. We’ll get there. Eventually. So I say, drive carefully but enjoy. In another 10 years your car won’t feel anymore the way it does now. We’ll get safety and numbness. Two sides of the same coin.
Ola Marcelo!
Welcome to TTAC! I look forward to your contributions. I hope to get there some day soon, and we can hunt for Curbside Classics! I for one really enjoy the international scene, and a little more from Brazil and a touch less from China would help balance things out a bit :)
Paul
Thanks Paul
You’re one the main reasons I always kept getting back to this site. One can always sense from your writing the deep love and understanding you have for this my favorite machine.
And yes. I’ve been having some ideas. For a Brazilian Curbside Classic. Will take my camera out more often and take some picyures. Maybe put together something. Could be fun.
Thanks in advance for the Support.
Marcelo
Does that mean I can take the weekend off? Yes?
Nein, Herr Schmitt. Arbeit macht frei!
Jawohl!
+1 for Carioca Curbside Classics
Bienvenido Marcelo. Desde Chile te saludo. Good to have someone from the neighborhood reporting to the world.
Carlos
Gracias Carlos. Espero poder representar bien a nuestra región.
Please feel free to collaborate, criticize, suggest, correct and even praise. All feedback is welcome.
Bem Vindo, Marcelo! Beautiful place you are from…went there for my honeymoon.
I’m definitely into the internationalization of TTAC, loving the foreign car reviews, it allows me to daydream of renting these vehicles in their far off locations. Driving in foreign countries is one of my favorite pastimes…the freedom of the open road beckons even more when you are in an unfamiliar land.
Thanks NN! Indeed, so beautiful, but in many ways so flawed :)
I agree totally with you. I for example dream of a perfect vacation in America. Get there, buy some land barge or yank tank of the 70s and drive cross-country. Taking it slow, taking in the sites.
In Japan get a Kei car and drive around Tokyo.
In Italy rent a Ferrari and take a drive in the mountains around Lake Como.
In Australia get a panel van and go surfing!
The world is almost limitless that way!
So many dreams, so many drives, so little time (not to mention money)!
In Tokyo, you want a SUICA card, and a Japanese girl that explains the subway to you.
Hello Marcelo! Great to have you aboard!
Seriously, 12% of our traffic comes from India? I think I’ll demand the government provide me a Hindustan Contessa next time I go back.
Thanks Sajeev!
Who knows, one of these days now you’ll give me a ride in one of your 300hp+ monsters!
That’d be sweet!
Sajeev; I don’t trust that number at all. Google Analytics say .28% of TTAC readers come from India. Sorry.
Please give us a taste of Brazilian Curbside Classics. I’d love an article on the Rural (Willys) Station Wagon.
Many vehicle platforms find second and third lives in countries that have economic incentives to promote local manufacturing/assembly with high local content (like glass, interior fabrics, etc.) Most TTAC readers probably know how VW continued making old bugs/beetles in Mexico for decades after Stuttgart pulled the plug, but I’m sure Brazil has as many or more interesting stories. The Willys Jeep (think WWII) and station wagon were produced in variant forms not only in Brazil and Argentina but also in various countries in Asia as well (with Mitsubishi badges and diesel engines) for decades.
I’m looking forward to seeing some of these.