After the Second World War, the Brazilian government vigorously pushed forward the process of industrialization, which rapidly transformed Brazil from a backward agricultural country to an advanced industrial country, and became one of the developing countries with faster economic development after the war. In the process of industrialization, Brazil's automotive industry rose rapidly. After only 20 years of development, Brazil entered the ranks of the world's top 10 automobile producers. In 1978, Brazil's annual automobile production exceeded one million units.
Before the start of the automobile industry, Brazil could only use imported parts to assemble small trucks, bulldozers and tractors. In the government's guidance and support and the participation of multinational automobile companies, the automobile industry has rapidly developed into the leading industry of the Brazilian national economy, and has become a "locomotive" to drive economic growth. In the development of the automobile industry, the Brazilian government has played an important role in promoting. In the process of the development of the automobile industry, the Brazilian government has adopted various policy measures to actively promote the development of the automobile industry. The government's policy-oriented role is mainly reflected in the following five aspects.
Government support for the development of the automotive industry and the way
(1) the implementation of " growth point " industrial policy to promote the development of the automotive industry.
The "Growth Point" industrial policy was implemented in the national economic development program formulated during the Kubitschek administration (1956-1961). The aim of this policy was to identify, through comparative studies of various sectors and industries, the leading industries that would stimulate and drive the economy as a whole, and to focus on prioritizing the development of these industries, the so-called "growth poles" being these leading industrial sectors. In the mid-1950s, the Brazilian government identified the automobile industry as the "growth point" of the economy, and focused on the development of the automobile industry as a leading industry with driving force. In 1956, the Brazilian government formulated a plan for the development of the automobile industry, and set up a "Special Committee for the Promotion of the Automobile Industry", to determine the development of the automobile industry is the policy of import substitution, and in this way to drive the country's engine and other machinery manufacturing industry and the development of related industries.
Actively attracting foreign direct investment
In the mid-1950s, the Kubitschek government implemented a policy of introducing large amounts of foreign capital, in addition to relaxing the proportion of foreign equity in enterprises, but also through tax exemptions and other measures to encourage foreign capital to transfer to the manufacturing industry, exempting foreign enterprises from import taxes, exempting foreign investors from the first year of the sales tax of newly built enterprises in Brazil, and providing preferential loans for foreign-funded enterprises and so on. In the process of introducing capital, equipment and technology to develop the automobile industry, the Brazilian government has also adopted the following specific measures: encouraging foreign automobile companies to invest in imported equipment and giving them preferential treatment in terms of foreign exchange; granting a preferential exchange rate for the import of automobile parts; guaranteeing that companies participating in the investment will not be affected by later competitors by gradually restricting imports of parts; and granting 100 percent equity interest to foreign automobile companies. shareholding in foreign automobile companies.
Incentivized by these favorable policies, multinational automobile companies came to Brazil to invest in factories. In the late 1950s, Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and other automobile companies set up subsidiaries in Brazil, laying the foundation for the development of the Brazilian automobile industry. In 1957, Brazil produced 3.1 million automobiles. In 1957, Brazil already produced 31,000 cars, and by 1960, the output had risen to 133,000 cars.
The Brazilian automobile industry was founded on the foundation of the development of the automobile industry.
In the 1990s, Brazil continued to pursue the policy of introducing foreign investment, and foreign investment came in droves. Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen all increased their investments in Brazil, and Mercedes-Benz made the country a destination for trucks and buses. Honda, Toyota, Daimler a Chrysler, Renault, PSA and other auto giants have invested in Brazil to produce cars.
Vigorously develop the transportation industry
For a long time, the Brazilian government attaches great importance to the development of the transportation industry, to break through this constraint on the economic development of the " bottleneck ", for the economic growth to create good conditions.
After World War II, Brazil's transportation industry was very backward, with less than 1,000 kilometers of roads nationwide. Brazil in the 1948-1955 and 1956-1961 national economic development plan for the transportation industry as the focus of development, and achieved great results.
Since the 1960s, Brazil has seen the so-called " highway boom" Between 1960 and 1977, the total length of road mileage increased from 480,000 kilometers to 1.5 million kilometers. In 1976, about 75% of all passenger and freight transportation in Brazil was carried by road. By 1992, the country's total road mileage had reached 1.66 million kilometers, of which 11.5 million kilometers were arterial roads and 11.5 million kilometers were other classes of roads. Of these, 11.5 million kilometers were trunk roads and 154.5 million kilometers were roads of other classes. By 1992, the country's total road mileage had reached 1.66 million kilometers, of which 11.5 square kilometers were trunk roads and 1.54 million kilometers were other classes of roads, with an average of 123 meters of road per vehicle. The development of the transportation industry for the Brazilian automobile industry took off to create good conditions.
Strict Protection of Domestic Automobile Market
In order to protect the domestic automobile industry, the Brazilian government has long adopted a high tariff policy to prevent the import of automobiles. In addition, Brazil also uses import quotas and even decrees to ban imports and other measures to restrict the entry of foreign cars into the Brazilian market.
In the 1950s, when the automobile industry was in its infancy, the Brazilian government pursued protectionist policies. High import tariffs protected the Brazilian automobile market and created the preconditions for the development of the automobile industry.
In 1976, Brazil further strengthened the import substitution policy, and continued to implement the "same product law" implemented at the end of the 1940s, and take measures to restrict imports. In 1980, the Brazilian government promulgated import control regulations, the implementation of import licensing system, the import tax rate of industrial products increased substantially. In addition, Brazil doubled import tariffs or banned imports of consumer durables (e.g., automobiles and their parts) for which domestic demand was already largely satisfied. It was not until March 1990, when the Collor government implemented the policy of " opening up the economic world", that the ban on automobile imports in Brazil was lifted.
Brazil on the import of automobiles levied by the tariff rate from 60% in 1991 was gradually reduced to 20% in 1994, resulting in 1991-1995, the number of Brazilian imports of automobiles each year from 20,000 to 300,000, an average annual growth rate of 96.8 percent. The average annual growth rate was 96.8 percent. In this situation, the Brazilian government in February 1995 to raise the tariff rate, first from 20% to 32%, and then raised to 70% two months later, thus curbing the increase in automobile imports, the number of imported cars in 1996 was only 157,000 units, a decrease from 1995, the number of cars imported was only 157,000 units, a decrease from 1995, the number of cars imported was only 157,000 units. The number of cars imported in 1996 was only 157,000, nearly half of what it was in 1995.
Actively promoting the localization of automobiles
The Brazilian government stipulated as early as 1956 that within three years, 90%-95% of the components of each car should be made in Brazil. In the late 50's, while encouraging foreign automobile companies to invest in Brazil, the Brazilian government required foreign automobile companies to put forward investment plans (the plans must include the use of locally produced parts to assemble the proportion of automobiles gradually increased from the initial 45% to about 95%); the Brazilian government to give preferential exchange rates for imports of automobile parts at the same time, the requirement of locally produced parts to gradually reduce the proportion of the imported parts to the Brazilian government. The Brazilian government, while granting preferential exchange rates for the import of automobile parts, requires a gradual reduction in the import of automobile parts as local production of automobile parts increases.
The major automobile manufacturers attach great importance to localization. As early as 1957, the largest production of Brazil's Volkswagen light transport vehicles produced by Volkswagen has reached 50 percent of the localization rate; by the end of 1961, the Volkswagen light transport vehicles and Volkswagen Beetle car localization rate reached 95 percent. In 1962, 90% of the parts and components of Brazilian automobiles were localized. As can be seen from Table 1, the localization rate of Volkswagen cars increased rapidly. The 1970s and 1980s led to the development of alcohol cars
The two oil crises of the 1970s had a great impact on Brazil's economy because of the country's heavy dependence on oil imports. In 1975, the Brazilian government set up a program for the use of alcohol, aiming to extract alcohol from sugar cane to reduce dependence on oil. In the 1980s, in order to popularize the use of alcohol cars, the Brazilian government adopted a number of incentives for the sale of alcohol cars: a reduction in the tax on industrial products, a lowering of the price of alcohol cars, and an exemption from sales tax on alcohol rental cars. These measures greatly promoted the sale of alcohol cars. Between 1980-1985, the proportion of alcohol cars in newly licensed cars increased from 35% to 96%.
Since the end of the 1980s, the price difference between gasoline and alcohol has gradually narrowed, resulting in a clear structural change in the newly licensed cars in Brazil, and a significant decline in the share of alcohol cars. Between 1985 and 1989, the share of alcohol cars dropped from 96% to 61%. By the late 1990s, the share of alcohol cars was already very small.
Guidance to the production of automobile models
In the early 1970s, in order to encourage the production of heavy-duty automobiles and public **** automobiles, the Brazilian government issued a decree to reduce the tax on industrial products of these two kinds of automobiles from 10 percent and 12 percent to 5 percent, and at the same time, granting import exemptions to the necessary parts and components that could not be produced in the country yet. With the incentives, Brazilian automakers increased the production of these two car models. At the same time, in order to adapt to the new situation of the oil crisis, Brazil has increased the production of small fuel-consuming passenger cars and trucks, reduce the production of large fuel-consuming vehicles, and the development of small and medium-sized cars powered by mixed fuels and alcohol.
Brazil's automobile industry to the production of cars, and cars and cheap, economical and practical popular cars, whose production accounts for more than 50 percent of the total output of cars. In the process of forming this pattern, the Brazilian government has played a certain role in guiding. In the beginning stage of the car industry, Brazilian automobile manufacturers were once based on the international market; they imported high-grade car parts in the form of CKD for assembly and export, and strengthened the localization of parts and components. By 1965, although the localization rate of cars had reached 95%, Brazilian cars still could not enter the international market due to the lack of international competitiveness. There were two main reasons: firstly, the models were too old, and secondly, the quality after localization was not good and the cost was high. Because of the high price, the Brazilian domestic market is also difficult to accept. Under such circumstances, the Brazilian government formulated a policy to encourage the use of economical and popular cars in 1967. This policy played a positive role in guiding the automobile manufacturers, so that they turned to develop the Brazilian domestic market, focusing on the production of economical and popular cars. In just 15 years, the Brazilian car per 1,000 people from 14 in 1965 to 77 in 1980.
Since the 1990s, driven by the wave of energy saving and environmental protection, small cars have become the favored models in the international auto market. The Brazilian government used tax policy to encourage people to buy low-priced small cars, thus stimulating the production of small cars. For example, since April 1993, the government to reduce the "popular cars" that is, the exhaust volume of less than 1 liters of car tax, so that the car in the price of the tax accounted for the proportion of 35.6% in 1991 to 17.6% in 1993 to reduce the price of the car. The proportion of tax in the selling price of cars was reduced from 35.6% in 1991 to 17% in 1993. The government's tax policy greatly stimulated the demand for small cars. The demand for cars with an exhaust volume of less than one liter increased from 93,000 in 1992 to 87,000 in 1997. The demand for cars with an exhaust gas of less than 1 liter increased from 93,000 in 1992 to 87,000 in 1997, significantly higher than the total number of cars. The demand for cars with an exhaust volume of less than 1 liter increased from 93,000 units in 1992 to 87,200 units in 1997, which was significantly higher than the increase in the total demand for automobiles, and the proportion of such cars in the total sales of domestically produced automobiles increased from 16 percent in 1992 to 73 percent in 1998.
Actively promoting automobile exports
Developing foreign trade relations was the center of Brazil's economic strategy in the 1960s. The Brazilian government took the increase of export and diversification of export products as an indispensable strategic measure to further promote the industrialization and the national economic development, in order to expand the export of automobiles and other products, the Brazilian government in addition to adopting the usual means of fiscal stimulation (such as tax exemption and reduction, provision of preferential loans, exports, subsidies, and simplification of the export procedures), it also took the national currency depreciation at irregular intervals, and to improve the infrastructure for foreign trade and other measures. The Brazilian government has played an important role in increasing automobile exports. The Brazilian government played a huge role in increasing automobile exports.
In 1976, in order to promote the export of a large number of various types of automobiles, the 10th Brazilian automobile industry exhibition was held in the city of S?o Paulo.
In 1977, the Brazilian National Association of Automotive Parts Industry set up a foreign trade bureau responsible for the export of automotive parts to strengthen the export business of unassembled complete sets of automotive parts, in order to facilitate the development of the production of the country's small and medium-sized automotive parts factories.
In order to expand exports, the Brazilian government also formulated the Befiex program, which stipulated that the automobile industry could use no more than 1/3 of the export income to import goods duty-free, and provided export loans with favorable interest rates. Between 1973 and 1979, Brazilian automobile exports were valued at $1 billion. In the 1990s, the Brazilian government also stimulated the export of automobiles by allowing companies that exported cars and parts to import them at a preferential tax rate. In 1997, Brazilian automobile exports amounted to 41.7 million units, a new record. In 1997, Brazil's automobile exports amounted to 417,000 units, setting a new record. Through the above analysis, it can be seen that in the process of developing the domestic automobile industry, the Brazilian government has been actively carrying out policy guidance, so that the automobile industry has formed a unique government-driven development mode. The development of Brazil's automobile industry has a very poor foundation, and the government has not invested much money in the development process, but with the power of multinational automobile companies, Brazil soon entered the ranks of the world's top 10 automobile producers. Brazilian automobiles not only meet the needs of the domestic market, but are also exported to more than 60 countries around the world. Automobile exports have earned Brazil a large amount of foreign exchange. The automobile industry has developed into the leading industry of the Brazilian national economy, and at the same time has driven the development of other related industries and increased employment and tax revenues. From these aspects, the role played by the Brazilian government is more successful.
But there are two problems that have always plagued the Brazilian government. Before the 1990s, Brazil protected the domestic automobile market through tariffs and non-tariff measures to prevent automobile imports. Brazil even enacted a decree banning car imports. Under the government's protection, Brazil's automotive industry was able to get off the ground and grow rapidly. The government's market protection measures undoubtedly played a good role in the initial development of the Brazilian automobile industry. This is also an important experience for the latecomer countries to survive in the cracks and develop their own automobile industry. However, the strict protection of the domestic market has also caused many negative impacts, and has become the root cause of the lack of international competitiveness of the Brazilian automobile industry. First, it has led to the emergence of excessive prices in the domestic automobile market. Brazil's automobile production costs were higher than international levels, and domestic market protection measures ensured that automobile producers could make a profit in spite of the high prices. As a result, after Brazil lifted the ban on automobile imports and lowered tariffs in the 1990s, foreign automobiles entered the Brazilian market in large numbers, and the value of automobile imports skyrocketed. The Brazilian government was forced to re-increase the tariffs on automobile imports in order to discourage the importation of automobiles. Secondly, under the strict market protection, obsolete car models can be sold, therefore, automobile manufacturers do not want to spend a huge amount of money to develop or introduce the latest models, which affects the upgrading of products and is not conducive to the improvement of research and development capabilities. Thirdly, the Brazilian government restricts the import of auto parts and components, so that automobile manufacturers can not carry out the international division of labor and cooperation, therefore, the quality of Brazilian automobiles can not reach the international advanced level.
Market protection is a product of the specific development stage of the Brazilian automobile industry, but it is not a long-term solution. In the face of the international automotive industry to carry out mergers and acquisitions and strategic cooperation tide, the Brazilian automotive industry is facing quite a serious challenge.