In the year 1979, Dr. Carlos ordered a Ford Landau form the Ford dealership of Campina Grande, but the company went under before fulfilling his pre-paid Ford Landau order. Faced with the same setback, an average person would have bit the tongue and counted their losses. But Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Andrade would use the chance to learn about the problems facing the Brazilian automobile industry and resolve them. He started by proposing that the bankrupt dealership be passed down to him to cover the damage they had caused on him for not delivering the pre-paid Landau.
Birth of CAOA
The entrepreneurial instincts wouldn’t let Dr. Carlos, a medical doctor by profession let the opportunity slide by. Engineering the deal, therefore, marked the birth of CAOA which, today, is the biggest automobile distributor and manufacturer in Brazil and Latin America.
Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Andrade currently serves as the Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors. His astute leadership has over the years propelled CAOA and pushed it becoming a household name in the automobile industry of Latin America.
In less than six years after Dr. Carlos had created CAOA, the company’s big break came when it became the national dealer for Ford automobiles in Brazil. When in 1992 Brazil allowed imported vehicles in the market, CAOA was a took advantage of the opportunity and became the official importer of French brand, Renault.
Breaking international boundaries
The move skyrocketed CAOA’s sales making the company the top seller of imported vehicles in Brazil. CAOA would six years later in 1998, gain exclusive rights to import Japan made Subaru model. In tandem, CAOA started importing South Korean-made Hyundai vehicles. And while two other dealers were already selling the Hyundai vehicles, Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Andrade implemented a strategy that made CAOA the biggest distributor of Hyundai vehicles.
Building a manufacturing plant
Since then, CAOA has experienced exponential growth and also built a manufacturing plant in the city of Anápolis, Goiás in Brazil at the cost of USD$600 million. Carlos Alberto de Oliveira Andrade has received massive acclamation for his role in the development of the plant as he financed its construction with his own funds.