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29 AutoData | March 2019 MADE IN WHERE? The dilemma is always the same: there is lack of volume and investment capacity to nationalize technologically more sophisticated items. have electronics suppliers producing in Brazil and I don’t think we will. The trend is that imports of those components for the vehicles will increase”. But Botelho recognizes that a growing demand for electronic devices could ge- nerate enough scale, in some cases, to motivate at least part of production in the country: “Bosch itself is a good example, as it has a factory in Brazil specialized in ABS brakes for more than a decade, and more recently in stability control systems. We produce locally the entire electro- mechanical part of those components, but the electronic content, like chips and sensors, comes from abroad”. Disclosure/Bosch The math that systems suppliers and auto parts do is simple: if the equipment has too many electromechanical com- ponents and the scale of production is worthwhile it is possible to think about local production, but with electronic items always imported. For more complex safety items, with many electronic sensors and a sophisti- cated management center, however, it is more compensating to import the whole set, in the view of Bosch’s president. UNDENIABLE Another case is regarding ZF South America. Wilson Bricio, CEO, reveals that the company has already made studies to evaluate the feasibility of Brazilian au- tomatic transmissions, for example, but volumes per platform still do not justify such initiative. “For each of them a homologation would be necessary, which translates into costly individual processes”. For Bri- cio, production is justified only in com- petitive and very high volume environ- ments, which is not the case of Brazil: “The growth regarding the adoption of automatic transmissions by the Brazilian market is undeniable, however, equally are the impasses that create obstacles in our competitiveness.” This gap in the local production of automatic transmissions is emblematic because they equipped no less than 49% of new cars sold in Brazil in 2018 according to a survey by Bright Consulting, from Campinas, SP. Cassio Plagliarini, consul- tant, understands that “today, those trans- missions are very sophisticated and use many electronic components that would need to be imported. Only a volume of 500 thousand units/year would justify local production of automatic gearboxes, which would still have to be used by se- veral rival manufacturers”. Sindipeças (The National Association of Brazilian Auto Parts Manufacturers), which participated actively in the de- bates about Rota 2030, bets that many items could be nationalized - even if not