Posted by Rachel
This week, Lamborghini opened its first Brazilian dealership, located in São Paulo. The dealership is managed by Via Italia Group, a Brazilian-based company that specializes in luxury and sports cars. The company opened a showroom on Avenida Europa in downtown, and will also open a service and parts facility nearby.
Lamborghini cited São Paulo as the ideal location for its first Brazilian dealership because it is “one of the most modern and luxurious cities in South America,” and decided to enter the Brazilian market as a part of its global network strategy.
Via Italia Group was founded in São Paulo in 1996 and has become one of Brazil’s most notable sports car dealerships. They also sell Ferraris and Maseratis.
Posted by Rachel
This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Brazilian government has now imposed a two percent tax on foreign investment entering Brazil, hurting the local stock markets.
Brazil has weathered the global economic crisis much better than other countries, and the Ibovespa index rose 70% since March. The government has imposed tax on stock market purchases before, at 1.5% in 2008. The move this October is due to the strong real, which is hurting Brazilian exports.
However, experts say the move is already been detrimental to Brazilian stock markets and small and medium-sized companies looking to get onto the market in Brazil. They also say the move could threaten Brazil’s relatively new investment-grade status.
But like things in Brazil sometimes go, it seems investors may have already discovered a jeitinho to get around the tax. Investors looking to buy equities in Brazil could buy the equivalent stock in New York, cancel the purchase, and as a result get the equivalent Brazilian stock.
To read more, see the WSJ article here.
Posted by Rachel
Vale, one of Brazil’s highest-earning companies and the largest iron ore producer in the world, has been in the news this week with reports about increasing Brazilian investment and tension with President Lula. Let’s take a look at some of the headlines:
Posted by Rachel
Al Gore is in Brazil this week, and attended an event at the Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo (the Sao Paulo Industrial Federation), where he gave a speech and discussed environmental conservation. 
While he stressed the issues of deforestation and conservation efforts, he was rightfully extremely careful to refer directly to environmental policy in Brazil, and apparently walked on eggshells, refusing to give an outright opinion on the Brazilian perspective. “If I was Brazilian, I’d discuss it, but I’m not, so I won’t,” he allegedly said.
He also apologized for discussing emissions, since the U.S. has higher carbon emissions than Brazil does, though he said he was optimistic about environmental policy change in the U.S. He also congratulated Brazil on the successful ethanol industry, which has the highest profits of any ethanol industry in the world.
At the end of the event, he was given an award by his hosts.
Posted by Rachel
Let’s take a look at the headlines from this week’s business news:
"
