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37 AutoData | September 2018 shop and a mechanical workshop were also created for the company’s cars main- tenance. As for the beginning of the following year (in 1959), consequently, Schaeffler, which is now located in Sorocaba, coun- tryside of São Paulo, and is formed by the merger of the companies Ina, Fag and LuK, began the local production of dashboard needles and bearings that initiallywould be provided for Volkswagen vehicles. The first customers were Albarus, nowDana, from Porto Alegre, RS, which used the needles on the driveshaft, and Clark, now Eaton, from Valinhos, SP, which applied them in the gearboxes it manufactured. One more step in 1960: the company began tomanufacture bearings and supply them to the gearboxes that equipped the Fusca and the Kombi model as well. In the following years the automotive sector be- came stronger and in the 70’s the Brazilian vehicles’ production was already close to the first one million units. It was at this moment that LuK do Brasil Embreagens, a company belonging to the LuK Group, controlled by Schaeffler, was founded pro- ducing pressure plates and clutches for the Passat modell. Both companies followed the growth of the Brazilian automotive industry and consolidated in the market fast, operating industrially jointed in São Paulo until 1975, when the activities were finally transferred to the current plant in Sorocaba, SP, with portfolio expansion and, at that time, quin- tupled the number of parts manufactured from three hundred to 1,5 thousand units. The Group was strengthened by the acquisition of FAG, which was comple- ted in 2002. From then on, the process of integrating the three brands into a single company, the current Schaeffler of Brazil, began. With the union, the product por- tfolio tripled from four to twelve lines and 2,5 thousand items for chassis, engine and transmission. 1958 Opening of Rolamentos Schaeffler (Schaeffler Bearings) in São Paulo, capital 1959 Start of local production of needles roller cages and needle roller bearings 1960 Start of production of clutch bearings for gearboxes 1972 Start of operations of LuK do Brasil 1975 Inauguration of Sorocaba factory, with production transfer of LuK 1980 Schaeffler starts producing bearings in Sorocaba 1997 Total transfer of the production to Sorocaba 2002 Acquisition of FAG 2003 Union of INA, LuK and FAG creating the Grupo Schaeffler do Brasil (Schaeffler’s Group of Brazil) 2006 Inauguration of the offices in Venezuela and Chile, which are added to those already existing in Argentina and Colombia 2010 Installation of the coating factory Schaeffler Group’s timeline in Brazil