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36 September 2018 | AutoData ANNIVERSARY » SCHAEFFLER By Márcio Stéfani Blessed by Kubitschek, Pelé and João Gilberto Schaeffler Group celebrates 60 years in Brazil: born in 1958, in São Paulo zilian infrastructure that had already been created since the previous president’s go- vernment, Getúlio Vargas. One of the pillars that would serve as base for that development dreamwas the automobile industry. And this way, in 1957, the Executive Group of the Automobile In- dustry (GEIA) was created, preciselywith the objective of assisting the implantation of the automakers in Brazil. The country instituted an economic development plan that ensu- red the establishment of the automotive industry in a short term for the first time. It was precisely in this optimistic at- mosphere and in that wonderful year of 1958 that Schaeffler, a German systems supplier that is one of the biggest auto- motive suppliers in theworld today, began its Brazilian trajectory in a shed located in the neighborhood of Santo Amaro, South Zone of São Paulo. It was a good moment for the automotive industry because things were really starting to happen. Anyway, everything was difficult at the beginning. The company itself had to pro- duce the screws of the machines due to the remaining deficiencies of the Brazilian factory park. Ametalwork shop, a carpentry T he end of the 1950s was very impor- tant for Brazil. The country prospered and began an industrial development trajectory that would stay in its his- tory forever. In addition to that, important cultural, political and economic events emerged every day influencing positively the future of the Brazilian nation. The year 1958, by the way, was unfor- gettable for the Brazilians. It was the year that everything went well, from soccer to business! The Brazilian soccer team got its first star bywinning the SwedishWorld Cup presenting to theworld a fantastic boy named Pelé. Regarding the culture, João Gilberto, with the song Chega de Saudade, invented the bossa nova, a musical style that would become a symbol of Brazilian- ness throughout theworld. And regarding the economy, the first results of the indus- trial policy started to appear, initiated by the president Juscelino Kubitschek two years before. Brazil wanted to grow and be modern. The ideawas to transformour dependence on the agrarian economy, coffee and sugar exporter, to another based on the export of manufactured goods thanks to the Bra-