Industrial Policy and the Automotive Sector: A Comparison between the Policies Launched by Brazil and China in the 1990s

Abstract

Significant transformations have occurred in the global automotive sector since the 1970s, greatly affecting the implementation of policies. In this work, we focus on the development and comparison of policies for the automotive sector in Brazil and China. In the Brazilian case, we highlight the policies developed between the governments of Fernando Collor and Fernando Henrique Cardoso, between 1990 and 2002, which focused on an internationalized sector, in a context with a great flow of foreign investment, and which had limited results in the promotion of companies that supply national capital. As for the Chinese case, we highlight the choice for joint ventures in 1979 and the policies of 1988 and 1994 and their consequences until 2001. Finally, we emphasize the dilemmas left for the next governments and policies and for the development of companies. When comparing both cases, we observed that in Brazil there were noncompliance with the policy goals and denationalization of the supplier sector, while China, learning from its mistakes and also in a context of strong flow of external capital, strengthened the development of the national suppliers, with repercussions, above all, on the expansion of production and technological development.