Brazil is one of those amazing countries that shows huge potential as a economic superpower. Over the past years we have seen and more and more spots coming from Brazil to Autogespot and we want to show you are lot more from Brazil. Recently we spoke Pedro, the founder of Exotics Brazil, a huge Instagrampage showing the best cars in Brazil. In the following interview we had a tells you more about his country, the supercars and the automotive culture.
Especially in Europe, Autogespot and car spotting has become a big and well known hobby. What about Brazil? Is the car spotting scene well known?
It's a hobby on the rise. Every day you can see more and more adults and young people devoting to these beautiful passions that are the world of cars and the photography. Nevertheless, it's still unfortunately unknown by the majority of the brazilian population. But that tends to change in a few years, due to the strong power of divulgation in social networks.
In every country privacy and cars is an issue. How is dealt with this in Brazil?
This is definitely one of the biggest prolems of car spotters in Brazil. Our country unfortunately it's not as safe as the biggest part of Europe. Then we always need to be aware of the public exposure of the owners. They always ask us to cover the license plate before you upload the picture. I think that’s why we don’t have a lot of Brazilian spots here on Autogespot.
How is car photography in Brazil? Is car spotting just about making a picture of a car, or does it go way deeper?
It varies greatly from person to person. Some spotters take pictures only when a car appear parked at the street. While others live it with much more intensity: go to the main transit points of sports vehicles all weekends, attend in automotive events in various parts of the country and also upload their pictures in various social platforms.
What kind of spots in Brazil are the best to spot? Could you tell us something more about that?
In recent years Brazil has undergone a major economic growth. This has caused the country to develop very fast in a lot of areas. More rich people have emerged, and consequently the luxury market has greatly increased (especially the high standard houses, designer clothes and sports cars). Nevertheless, it’ is not that easy to spot that many cars in Brazil. Owners just do not use them as much as other owners in other countries do since the roads in Brazil aren’t that welcoming to the supercars. However, there are certain places that is hard to stand half an hour without seeing a nice car. Avenida Europa in São Paulo is the best example: we can find a lot of cars at the dealerships (Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Bentley and Maserati) and also moving through the street and fueling in a very well attended gas station. In other cities, it is easier to see sports cars in mall parking lots, renowned restaurants, steakhouses and on surroundings of famous beaches.
In every country, certain cars are very popular. Which cars are in Brazil very popular? Do you see many tuned cars?
Here in Brazil the most popular car is the Chevrolet Camaro. Everyone knows about it because of a country music called “Camaro Amarelo” (Yellow Camaro). Singers sing about a story that a man got rich and bought a Camaro to draw attention of women. Due to the big number of that car throughout Brazil, many people started to dislike Camaros and also to consider it a tacky car. Talking about the tuned cars, it’s very hard to see those made by famous tuning company like Hennessey, Brabus, Gemballa and Hamann but it’s common to see Japanese cars like Nissan GT-R, Mitsubishi Evolution and Subaru WRX STI.
For one the car is just something to travel in, for another person it reflects their status. How do people in Brazil feel about this?
People love fast cars! Maybe this is a legacy of the good times of the Formula 1 with Ayrton Senna winning everything. So people buy these cars because they love speed and as a consequence they show that they had succeeds in life.
Does there exist something like an Brazillian petrolhead? How would you describe such a person?
There are a lot of Petrolheads in Brazil. You can prove it very easy when a car passes by the street and everybody starts to look, point with their hands and take pictures. Basically, a petrolhead is someone who loves everything related with the motoring world.
Do you have some proper roads for driving? Can you tell me something about them?
Unfortunately not at all roads. Maybe this is one of the reasons that many people do not get excited to buy fast cars. Because of the asphalt bad quality, many cars end up with serious injury when making longer trips. However, in privatized roads the asphalt is of excellent quality but it is necessary to pay many tariffs of tolls which normally should not happen in one of the countries that has the highest tax burden in the world. You expect a good use of public money, but it's not what happens. Then it’s necessary to resort to privatized roads if you don’t want to spoil your car.
Does Brazil has big car-events?
Sure! The São Paulo International Motor Show is the biggest car show in Latin America. We also have every year the Formula 1 race at the Interlagos circuit. When both events happen at nearby dates, São Paulo becomes a true motorsport party.
What do you expect the coming years? Do you think there will change much in comparison with the current situation? Do you expect more exclusive cars?
With new releases, is natural that most of them come to Brazil. Last year 3 Porsche 918 Spyder reached our country. If the economy don’t go down the tubes in the next years, in the coming years it may be possible to see even more rare cars in Brazil streets.
What kind of supercars can you already find in Brazil?
About the hypercars topic, Brazil don't have a good amount of it. We have a good variety of nice cars, like a couple of rare Ferrari's, the F40, F50 and one SA Aperta. Other supercars you can find in our country are a Bugatti EB110 SS, two Jaguar XJ220's, seven Porsche Carrera GT's, Mercedes CLK-GTR AMG, Alfa Romeo 8C Spider, Lamborghini Murciélago SuperVeloce, Pagani Zonda F Clubsport, Spyker C8 Laviolette, six Lamborghini Miura's and three 918 Spyders. We don't have P1 because McLaren don't have a official dealer in Brazil. And two of LaFerrari that were reserved for Brazilian Customers will never arrive here, because one is in Monaco and the other one in Miami.
Maybe you can tell us something about cool projects you are working on with Exotics Brazil?
We used to just post pictures of cars in all regions of Brazil in the last years on Instagram. So we pretend this year to do more automotive coverage of events across the country.
Many thanks to Exotics Brazil