SPJ AGUILERA Automotive
SPJ Aguilera (Supercar ao Preço Justo de Aguilera) was born in Brazil in 1979 with the aim of creating low-cost, performing cars, to make them cars that can be purchased by people who intend to spend less than $ 30,000 on a vehicle.
Josè Aguilera was born on August 3, 1963 in Rio de Janeiro, in an area very close to the favelas, where he grew up. He attended public schools because his family was not poor but not well off. The founder is José Aguilera: wanted at all costs as a child an aesthetically beautiful and powerful car, but the parents could not afford it. Continuing with his studies and doing small jobs, José made drawings of his dream cars, created by him, also creating detailed technical maps using specifications and engines of other currently existing cars. Over the years he began to show his plans to various mechanics of the rich part of the city, who decided to exploit it to earn further and made agreements with Josè: they would make his dreams come true with investments but most of the company would remain to investors with their earnings. Josè accepted, the company was called "SPJ Automotive" (name chosen by everyone) officially founded in 1976 and they began to make these vehicles from 1979. In 1984, given the good receipts, Josè was appointed CEO and purchased almost entirely the company, the various mechanics remained in total 45%, which over the years will be resold to third parties or to other investors.
The successful SPJ car of the 80s was undoubtedly the Familia: the FM80 engine (also included in the name) was perfectly balanced with the weight of the car, guaranteeing performance superior to those declared, pushing the car at excellent speeds for those years, without sacrificing quality and strength, and finally, a very low price for the product offered. This complete package convinced the market to buy it and sold it with good results, to the point of granting an heir to the car in the early 90s.
In the early 1990s, Josè Aguilera decided to give a total of 5% of the entire company's shares free of charge to English engineers, who in exchange worked for the company.
Given the success that the FM80 engine brought to the manufacturer, SPJ decided to buy it completely in 1992, acquiring all the rights and accessing all the projects. New versions of this engine were soon to come out, adapted to the new standards arriving on more countries. The FM80 engine appealed so much to SPJ customers probably due to its negligible price not only in the purchase, but also in the repairs.
In 1996 MVR and SPJ entered into an agreement, in which they agreed to reciprocally exchange projects and drawings of engines and cars. The duration of the initial agreement was two years, it was extended until 2002.
After 2002 SPJ found itself without new engines, as the partnership with MVR ended. Therefore SPJ decided to invest in the MITCE and EcoDrive engine projects, and obtained the possibility to access and use these latest engines. The anti-pollution regulations of some countries led SPJ to the need to update the FM80 engine again, which SPJ customers were now fond of. So in 2004 SPJ founded a new company in its own name: "FM80 Trademark", a company that owns all the rights to the FM80 engine and that starts hiring novice engineers to try to bring the legendary engine back to its origins.
Until 2003 the company limited itself to the sale of imported cars or vehicles already designed, due to various problems created with Janeiro.
In 2008 the company entered a period of serious crisis, from which it will never recover. From 2010 it stops production and in 2012 it closes permanently. Since 2014 all rights and factories owned by SPJ are owned by Kango and by David Hesselnoff Automotive.
