"God is Brazilian"

It is a time of new beginnings when Heinz Dürr sets foot on Brazilian soil in 1957. With the signing of the Treaty of Rome, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands establish the European Economic Community, the first Boeing 707 takes to the skies, and the conquest of space begins with the Soviet satellite Sputnik. It is also a time when companies set out to explore new horizons. Heinz Dürr, who is only 24 years old, will spend two months in Brazil to explore the country as a potential foreign market.  

On the agenda of the junior boss are talks with business representatives. One of the companies he visits is Gema, which manufactures machines for the surface treatment of car bodies and therefore is a great fit for the Dürr family business. The negotiations are successful and lead to a cooperation. It becomes the nucleus of the subsequent Dürr subsidiary in Brazil, which is founded in 1964. 60 years later, the anniversary of “Dürr Brasil” was marked with big celebrations.

The establishment in Brazil is the starting signal for Dürr’s global expansion, which continues in Mexico, South Africa, and the USA in the following six years. The collaboration between locations around the world has carried the Group through the turn of the millennium and continues to shape its corporate culture to this day. Currently, the Dürr Group has 139 locations in 33 countries. 

The 1960s are the right time to venture into South America. After a difficult phase, the Brazilian economy is growing. The standard of living is rising, more and more people want to have a car. More than one million vehicles are built in Brazil between 1957 and 1964. Major manufacturers want to conquer the Americas from there. To do this, however, they need reliable suppliers of high-quality machines and systems.

Dürr wants to meet this demand and gets its chance when Volkswagen builds a new production facility in São Paulo and needs modern painting technology. The order marks the company’s entry into large-scale plant construction. This cannot be achieved with local subcontractors alone. Therefore, Dürr decides to set up its own production facility in Brazil. A bold plan. In later years, Heinz Dürr would describe the move to Latin America as risky. “Promising, but full of uncertainties,” said the entrepreneur, who died in 2023. 

The banks that Dürr asks for backing are also skeptical. Most of them decline. Only a cooperative bank in Stuttgart-Feuerbach is prepared to provide the required guarantee of 500,000 Deutschmarks. The director seems to realize what opportunities the distant country offers. His following statement was documented: “Brazil is far away, but a lot is happening over there.” 

In the 1960s, there are still no telephones in large parts of Brazil. Internal company communication, which was common at that time, is now a relic of the past: José Gimenez Sanchez, who starts as an office boy at Dürr Brasil in 1967 at the age of 20 and later works his way up to the technical support department, reports on how employees communicate with the help of radio devices. Messengers commute between the administration and the factory to exchange plans and drawings. Hours are spent on transmissions that today take only a few seconds via e-mail. 

Dürr’s first own production facility is built in Santo Amaro, on the outskirts of São Paulo. Today, it is a prosperous suburb, 60 years ago it was a wasteland. Patriarch Otto Dürr is not amused when his son presents him with the idea. “Are you crazy? It looks just like a desert,” he exclaims. In the end, he is persuaded. 

After the Second World War, Brazil attracts people from all over Europe. Many want to escape hardship and destruction and build a new life far away from home. One such adventurer is Sergius Erdelyi. Born in the Serbian city of Novi Sad in 1919, the ingenious tinkerer later lives in Austria. His original plan was to emigrate to the USA. But as he was not allowed to enter the country with his dog, he decided to go to Brazil. He speaks several languages and brings 20 patents with him when he arrives in Brazil. In São Paulo, he founds a company for industrial equipment. 

His company supports Dürr with the major order for the Volkswagen plant in São Paulo. The Swabians are to supply a state-of-the-art paint shop. By the standards of the time, this is a large and very difficult order. In fact, people at Dürr already know a great deal about this sophisticated technology. However, the company is only just beginning to develop into a full-range supplier of systems for the automotive industry. They had never built paint booths before, let alone a complete painting line. New dimensions are also reached in terms of order value, which is higher than the previous annual sales.

The work begins. “A continuous painting line like this required state-of-the-art technology,” writes Erdelyi in a review. First of all, precise drawings are needed. These are made without a computer, of course — just with ink, a triangle, and a ruler. The drawing boards are huge, with sheets of paper measuring almost a square meter. Erdelyi is one of the men driving the project forward. Heinz Dürr gets on well with the blond manager, calling him “gold helmet” with a wink.

In 1970, Dürr is the market leader in Brazil. In addition to Volkswagen, GM and Mercedes are now also customers. But in the same year, the young subsidiary really has to prove itself. Shortly before Christmas, a fire breaks out in the VW plant in São Paulo. A brand-new painting line is destroyed. The column of smoke can be seen 20 kilometers away.

With skill and ingenuity, Dürr builds a makeshift paint shop. Only a few weeks later, VW is able to resume production. A tremendous effort, Erdelyi recalls. “My biggest project at Dürr was undoubtedly saving Volkswagen after the fire. I gave everything for the reconstruction.” 

The event is deeply engraved in the collective consciousness of the company and gives self-confidence to the workforce. In the decades that follow, Dürr Brasil develops into a reliable constant: Through changing political and economic times, the South American subsidiary supplies other countries on the continent with state-of-the-art painting technology. For 60 years now, Brazil has been an indispensable pillar of the Group. Critical situations have always turned out well. In such cases, Heinz Dürr liked to use a popular Brazilian saying that reflects his affection for the country: “Deus é brasileiro” — “God is Brazilian.”