Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Andrade, founder of the Caoa Group, dies at 77 – Economy

This morning, Saturday, 14 Brazilian doctors died Carlos Alberto de Oliveira AndradeFounder of the Automotive Group ShowaHe is 77 years old.

“It is with great regret that we inform of the passing away of our Founder and Chairman, Dr. Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Andrade, this morning. The Caoa Group Board of Directors said in a statement that Dr. Carlos was in poor health due to medical treatment and died in his sleep with his wife and children.

“Dr. Carlos was a brilliant physician and businessman, having attracted important brands to the Caoa portfolio, such as Ford, Hyundai, Caoa Chery and Subaru, having become an icon of the Brazilian auto industry.”

He graduated in medicine from the Federal University of Pernambuco, and the man from Paraíba was known to be a good negotiator. Coming from a family of 17 brothers, he worked as a surgeon when in 1979 he purchased a Ford Landau from a brand dealership in Campina Grande (PB). The dealership backed down, and Carlos Alberto bought it cheap, as a way to make up for the loss of money paid for the car. He founded Caoa there, using his initials, and soon gained the fame of a doctor doing any business.

The businessman agreed to pay for used cars, land and livestock passing through a stockpile of bricks. Sometimes he loses money, but the important thing is to complete the deal, according to the official profile of the businessman.

Fame has made buyers come from all over the region, even from Joao Pessoa and Natal, to Campina Grande. It didn’t take long for Ford to show him the lead dealership in Recife (PE), and shortly thereafter, in São Paulo. In less than six years, Caoa became the largest Ford dealer in Brazil in the 1980s.

With the opening of the auto market in the 1990s, Caoa began importing and reselling country cars from the French automaker Renault, which at that time did not yet have domestic production. Subsequently, Caoa also became the official distributor in the country of the Japanese automaker Subaru, starting a powerful expansion of the group. Then the group was also represented by the South Korean automaker Hyundai, which successfully sold the Tucson SUV on the market.

With the development of brands in the car market, the entrepreneur began to produce Hyundai cars in the country. In 2007, it invested R$1.2 billion in Caoa Automobile Assembly in Annapolis (GO). Ten years later, it paid US$60 million to control Chery in Brazil, which became Caoa Chery, a national automaker. Today, the company’s plant produces ix35, New Tucson, Hyundai’s HR and HD lines, Tiggo5x, Tiggo7 and Tigg8 of the Caoa Chery brand.

Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Andrade left the company’s leadership in 2013, when Antonio Maciel Neto, then president of Ford, took over the leadership of the group. The businessman went to the presidency of the council. In 2017, there was another change of presidency, with Mauro Correa taking charge of the group.

When Caoa Group turned 40, in May 2019, he was the entrepreneur Posted a testimonial Noting that the company started a new cycle, by controlling the Chery brand in Brazil. “I started from nothing, and Kawa got what I got with Ford, then Subaru, and most recently with Hyundai,” he said. “All those associated with Caoa’s group know that not only have we won, but we have also grown up.”

According to the company, the group will continue to be managed by current executives. “The company, in accordance with the succession and governance plan, continues to be managed by its current CEOs, who mourn the death of its founder and stand in solidarity with the family at this time,” Kawa Group’s board of directors said in a statement.

President Federation of Industries of the State of Sao Paulo (Fiesp)Paulo Skaff lamented the businessman’s death. “Today, we have lost the Brazilian Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Andrade, an entrepreneur with a brilliant entrepreneurial spirit, restless and never shy about new challenges. He leaves behind a valuable contribution to the country through the example of his successful business path and the millions of jobs he generated throughout his life. My deepest feelings for family and friends.”

Marconi Perillo, former governor of Goiás – the state where one of the Kawa factories is located – also highlighted the path of the entrepreneur “Carlos Alberto has also developed the most important, new and most modern automotive testing laboratory in Brazil. Our deep solidarity and support are to the family, wife, children and all employees of the Kawa Group in Goias and Brazil Posted on social media.

Awakenings will take place on Saturday at Cemitério do Morumbi at 2:30 p.m., followed by a burial at 5:30 p.m. / cooperate Christian Barbieri