Janeiro Automotive

More than a decade after its closure, in 2014 the Brazilian tycoon Raul Cobaltas takes a risky decision: to launch into the automotive sector.  However, he wants to honor his hometown, Rio de Janeiro, for his brand, so he moved to be able to appropriate and enjoy the rights of the now defunct brand Janeiro.  In 2016 he finally manages to resurrect the brand, which bears the name and identity of the previous one but is fundamentally completely new.  For the platforms he invests in GenShar projects and for the engines he relies on ZEERs, which convince him in terms of efficiency and performance.  The new brand has nothing to do with the old one, SPJ was not involved in any way.  Zughumi buys 5% of Janeiro Automotive in 2017, and provides it with guidelines in exchange for advertising and subsidies.

 Cobaltas' statements were as follows: "I want to relaunch this brand, whose name has been tarnished and defaced most likely due to the incompetence of the previous management. I will relaunch the Janeiro 4 as a car, as a challenge for my personal growth and my beautiful country. If success is on my side, I will have won and Rio de Janeiro will have won. "  Raul Cobaltas starts dating Adam Schwell, and a good friendship is also born between the two, also related to interesting business between the two.

In 2018, Zughumi Motors owns a total of 10% of Janeiro Automotive, and also sells Janeiro cars at its affiliated points.

In 2020, Zughumi acquires a total 30% of Janeiro Automotive, creating the Janeiro-Zughumi-Micropassion joint venture.

Starting in 2020 with the onset of the pandemic, the company faces a period of crisis that worsens until 2021. The company, which had been producing clones of Zughumi vehicles in South America with specific modifications for the local market, now finds itself in difficulty. The differing regulations and quality standards in the various markets where the two companies operate, combined with the selling price, make it challenging to share projects. Therefore, by the end of 2023, the production of Janeiro vehicles will be discontinued, and from 2024 onward, all production facilities in South America will be acquired by the Zughumi group. The Zughumi group commits to not laying off local workers and pledges to find new employment opportunities for the plants.

1997 - 2004

It was born in 1997 as a secondary luxury brand of the SPJ Aguilera Automotive manufacturer, but in 1999 it was officially separated and registered as a brand and company in its own right, despite being totally owned by SPJ.

 In 2004 the Janeiro Automotive company definitively announced its closure, also following a sensational internal error that legally exchanged the production and documents of the Janeiro 4E with the second series SPJ Familia.  SPJ understood that the production of luxury vehicles had no destiny in a reality like that of Janeiro, therefore, in 2004, it declared bankruptcy and therefore, inundated with death threats, some accountants and important figures of the company, including general partners, full of  debts, they committed suicide.

 The company officially closed its doors on January 1, 2004, the production of the vehicles ceased the same day and the Brazilian workers were left to fend for themselves, only to be acquired by SPJ after various protests by local unions.