1. Establishment of NIPPONDENSO REFRIGERACOES LTDA. (NDB)

[3] Launching the South America business

In September 1975, DENSO’s South America business finally got its start with the establishment of NIPPONDENSO REFRIGERACOES LTDA (NDB), an aftermarket car A/C sales company.
After leasing an idle facility from Toyota Brazil in São Bernardo do Campo, a suburb of São Paulo, NDB launched its aftermarket air conditioner business as an aftermarket-centered company that operated a small plant. NDB hired three Brazilians of Japanese ancestry to translate the Japanese manuals on product knowledge, sales, service, and quality assurance into Portuguese as part of its sales promotion efforts.
Fortunately, Toyoda Koki (later JTEKT), in addition to Toyota Motor and Toyota Tsusho, began local production by the same year.NDB would go on to deploy its business activities in close association with these local Toyota Motor group companies and with the support of their knowledge.
In addition to the plant, NDB set up an activity post in one of the offices of a local affiliated firm of Toyota Tsusho, and began preparations to launch sales. Still, there were almost no basic data regarding the market. Consequently, in order to investigate the popularity of air conditioners, NDB associates traveled around parking lots at the São Paulo Congonhas Airport and supermarkets, for example, to survey the vehicle models, whether they were equipped with air conditioners, and the air conditioner models.