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I'm always saddened to remember the fall of Gurgel. Had they achieved their goals, Brazilian economy could've benefited immensely.
by aflag 7y ago
I'm always saddened to remember the fall of Gurgel. Had they achieved their goals, Brazilian economy could've benefited immensely.
- gtirloni 7y agoDidn't they only exist because Brazil was mostly closed to imports at the time?
- forinti 7y agoGurgel had existed for a long time making small cars, off-roads and dune buggies. Other small manufacturers existed and still do. They wanted to build cheap cars and take advantage of a lower tax rate for small cars. When they were the most successful, a strike of the customs officials broke their supply of parts from Argentina. Then the federal government and the state government of Ceará reneged on their financing deals. This might have been because of lobbying from the big 4 (Fiat, GM, VW, and Ford), but I don't know if this has been proved.
- aflag 7y agoI think that's not entirely true. All city cars were still all made by foreign car makers. I think Gurgel only tried to make city cars around the 80s and they wanted to go electric (given how much energy became available to the country after Itaipu was built). I wouldn't say they didn't benefit on high import taxes, but they were truly trying to make something good and new.