General Motors Brazil

General Motors do Brasil is the largest subsidiary of General Motors in South America, one of the oldest and largest car producers in Brazil.

Founded in 1925 and initially located in the historic district of Ipiranga, São Paulo, the company assembled cars using imported parts from the United States.

In 2015, it completed 90 years of activities in the country and, in 2021, it celebrated the milestone of 17 million units produced in the country.

History

Initially operating in a rented warehouse, GM do Brasil opened its first plant in 1930 in São Caetano do Sul, São Paulo.

In 1958, a second factory was opened in São José dos Campos, officially inaugurated a year later by Juscelino Kubitschek, the President of Brasil at the time, for die casting and other cars assemblies.

GM introduced its first car in the country, the Chevrolet Opala, in 1968.

In 1973, GM launched the Chevrolet Chevette, which has accumulated sales exceeding 1.2 million units. It was replaced by the Chevrolet Corsa in 1994, the first economy car with electronic fuel injection in Brazil, after tests were conducted near Indaiatuba.

From 1968 until 2005, GM used Opel-developed cars badged as "Chevrolet".

In July 2000, it launched the Industrial Complex of Gravataí in Rio Grande do Sul, one of the world's most modern factories.

After the globalization and selling of Opel to PSA and after Stellantis, vehicles like the Onix were made from project designed and imported from Saic-GM in Shanghai, China. Most designs came ready from Warren, mainly pickup trucks. Other Brazilian own projects cars were the Chevrolet Agile, still based on Corsa Platform, Chevrolet Meriva, Chevrolet Kadett, Chevrolet Monza and Chevrolet Zafira, those from Opel projects, among others Brazilian own studies.

In 2005, GM do Brasil sold a total of 365,259 vehicles, 21.3% of the Brazilian market. The percentage was 22.6% in the SUV and commercial segment. The company's total production reached 559,345 units when counting exports.

In 2005, exports reached a value of US$ 1.6 billion, for the shipment of 114,994 complete knock-down (CKD) units and 125,678 vehicles exported to some 40 countries around the world. The main market for exports was Mexico, followed by Argentina, Venezuela, South Africa and other Latin American countries.

In the social area, GM do Brasil focused activities through the General Motors Institute, created in 1993, its mission is to rescue the citizenship of children, youths and adults from poor communities, which are located especially close to industrial plants of the company. Its shares are primarily in education.

In 2019, GM do Brasil sold 475,684 vehicles, an increase of 10% over the previous calendar year, surpassing China in sales. The last time sales exceed the Asian country was 2013, when GM sold 643,100 units in Brazil.

In 2021, a huge investment of was made to improve manufacturing in São Paulo. The investment was first announced in 2019. Despite this, sales dropped 28.5% to 242,108 vehicles.

In December 2021, GM South America announced to hire around 250 engineers from various specialties to work mainly in the areas of the São Caetano do Sul Technological Centre, such as bodywork and structure, exterior, interior, chassis, engine, transmission, electronics, controllers, software, and virtual simulation. In 2023, 1100 Employees were dismissed. From 2024 to 2028, an investment plan of R$7 billion or US$1.4 billion is ongoing, US$350 million per year, with subside of Brazilian President, in order to review and update the models tooling products.

GMB made 100 years and launched the program Chevrolet Vintage in Brasil where they will reconstruct GMB Chevrolet Opala C10 Chevette and Monza, the first would be a C10 restored with V8 Camaro Engine... because the Camaro left or discontinued to be imported to Brasil, So lets see how the factory in S. Caetano will build those cars.

Products

All of them under the Chevrolet brand:

Locally produced

* Onix, China project
*Montana, Brazilian project
*Spin, Brazilian project
*S10, USA & Brazilian projet
* Tracker, USA project
* TrailBlazer (since 2012), USA project

File:Chevrolet Onix 011.jpg, Chevrolet Onix
File:2023 Chevrolet Montana Premier (Brazil) front view 02.jpg, Chevrolet Montana
File:2019 Chevrolet Spin (Arequipa, Perú).jpg, Chevrolet Spin
File:ChevroletS10-Carilo-06280.jpg, Chevrolet S10
File:2019 Chevrolet Tracker 004.jpg, Chevrolet Tracker
File:Chevrolet TrailBlazer 003.jpg, Chevrolet TrailBlazer

Imported

* Chevrolet Spark EUV – From China
*Chevrolet Blazer EV
* Bolt EUV & EV – From the USA
* Equinox EV – From Mexico
*Silverado

File:Chevrolet Equinox III facelift 001.jpg, Chevrolet Equinox
File:Chevrolet Bolt.jpg, Chevrolet Bolt

Sales

Chevrolet consistently ranks as among the best-selling car brands in Brazil, and it has not ranked outside the top three most popular car brands in many years.

Criticism and controversy

In January 2019, after recording financial losses, General Motors Brazil presented a plan to restructure the company in Brazil. The Analysis & Opinion column of Jornal Já pointed this out as "blackmail", given the company's history:

References

External links

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{{Automotive industry in Brazil

Car manufacturers of Brazil
Brazil
Brazilian subsidiaries of foreign companies
Automotive industry in Brazil
Manufacturing companies based in São Paulo