The Volkswagen Brasilia was a compact car made in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 between 1973 and 1982.

The Brasilia (named after Brazil's capital city

Brasília

Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...

) looked like a smaller version of the Volkswagen 412

Volkswagen Type 4

The Volkswagen Type 4 is a mid-sized car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen of Germany from 1968-1974 in two-door and four-door sedan as well as two-door station wagon body styles...

 Variant, but was in fact based on the Volkswagen Beetle

Volkswagen Beetle

The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle or Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003...

. It was developed by Volkswagen do Brasil

Volkswagen do Brasil

Volkswagen do Brasil Ltda. is a subsidiary arm of Volkswagen Group, established in 1953.-Brazilian developed Volkswagens:Many of its models were designed especially for Brazil:*Brasilia*SP1 & SP2*1500/Variant/Variant II*Karmann Ghia TC...

 (Volkswagen of Brazil), which had at the time a unique and somewhat exotic line of cars, which spawned such rarities as the SP2

Volkswagen SP2

The SP2 was a sports car developed by Volkswagen do Brasil for that market, from 1972 to 1976; the name is an abbreviation of "São Paulo".-Origins of the project:...

. The Brasilia was equipped with the Volkswagen air-cooled engine from the Beetle.
In September 1970, Volkswagen of Brazil's president, Rudolf Leiding

Rudolf Leiding

Dr. Ing. h.c. Rudolf Leiding was the third post-war chairman of the Volkswagen automobile company , succeeding Kurt Lotz in 1971....

, made a challenge
for the company's major designers.