The tank was intended to be sold first to Arab and other Third World countries, jump-starting production — and enabling the Brazilian Army to later place its own orders without having to fund development costs.

Development of the tank was initially privately funded by Engesa, but cashflow issues eventually led to the Brazilian government extending a loan to assist the program.

In 1990, political scientist Ethan B. Kapstein noted that while its technical performance was reportedly comparable to contemporary MBTs, there were doubts that the EE-T1 project as a whole was commercially viable.

After being stalled by Engesa's bankruptcy filing in 1993, it was finally scrapped following the collapse of Brazilian armored vehicle industry in the late 1990s.

[5] Whilst preseries tanks were scrapped, with many of the key components being returned to manufacturers to recoup a portion of financial losses, the two EE-T1 prototypes sat in storage at the São Paulo War Arsenal in Barueri [6] until they were officially added to the 13th Mechanized Cavalry Regiment, based in Pirassununga, São Paulo in March 2003.