Electric cars coming to Mexico
Mexico City,- Even if each year fewer new cars are sold, Zilent decided to puts its money on the sale of the first electric cars in Mexico.
In a press conference, Carlos Take, Zilent's CEO, said that the Company will invest MEP$70 million (some US$4.6 million) in the first 10 electric car dealers in Mexico and in 2012 they will install an assembly plant here.
The price of electric cars will be US$8.5 thousand and the first 100 units will be available in Mexico City as of next month.
"We believe in Mexico, we are confident this is a profitable business. Our target will be businessmen and fleet owners, which require utility vehicles", Take said.
The Company is expecting to sell 2 thousand units the first year in 10 agencies located in Mexico City, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua and Jalisco.Source: El Mural
Volkswagen Group defeats the drop in the Mexican automotive market
Puebla, Puebla,- Volkswagen de Mexico informed that upon closing the first two months of this year the four brands that make up VW Group in Mexico had an acceptable performance, in spite of the general drop in the domestic automobiles market.
VW Group sold 20 thousand 217 passenger automobiles in the Mexican market, accounting for a 26.5% share of the market, also making of it leader in this segment.
The surprise came from Gol, a model which has been sold in Mexico for only 3 months now and upon closing February ranked first in sales for Volkswagen, with 5 thousand 403 units. Jetta is second with 4 thousand 984 units and Bora is in the third place with 3 thousand 518 units.Source: VW
Korean company invests MEP$80 million in the construction of a plant in Yucatan
Merida,- With an initial investment of MEP$80 million (around US$5.241 million), Energia del Sureste, a company with Korean capital started the construction of a plant in Yucatan, to produce Aeolian and thermal power solar panels.
The purpose is generating energy for houses, schools, hotels, restaurants, industries, street lighting, roads and parks with high power equipment.
Yucatan State Governor and Nam Hyun Khan, representative of Paru Co., Sunpower Products informed about the arrival of this Company, which will start operations here within six months.
Raul Rodriguez Escoffie, a Yucatan businessman, pointed-out that the arrival of this company will help save power and preserve ecosystems by fostering the generation of power which is both, environment-friendly and less expensive.Source: El Financiero
Spin Master arrives to Mexico
Mexico City,- Spin Master, the children's and teenagers' entertainment company, is arriving to the Mexican market with an initial investment of US$10 million in their first year.
"Our first step is establishing the organization in Mexico, we currently have dealers in several countries in Latin America, but our plan is looking at those countries from Mexico and explore the brands that could be successful in the Region", said Denis Normand, Spin Master's International Vice-president.
Spin Master is launching four brands in Mexico: Tech Deck (skateboard replicas), Air Hogs (radio controlled vehicles), Moon Sand (molding sand) and Bakugan (a combat game).
Normand considers that in spite of current difficult economic situation, this is the right time to invest in Mexico. "Mexico represents a market opportunity for Spin Master, due to its size, and it is therefore considered among the top three by large toy companies such as Disney and Mattel; also, Mexican children are eager to have the toys that are most popular elsewhere in the world".Source: America EconomiaOnline
Infrastructure expansion works start in Ensenada Port
With the arrival of the first dredge to expand port infrastructure in Ensenada, dredging works. started at the Port to increase draft from -14 to -16 meters in the navigation channel and the expansion of the turning dock diameter from 400 to 450 meters, in around 75 days. In addition, depth will be leveled in -12 API coasting dock and Ensenada International Terminal Pier 1.
The Luxembourg Dredge Hondius arrived from Mazatlan Port after making dredging works there. This machine has a cutting capacity of 30 thousand cubic meters of material per day and will be used to cut and expand the Port's turning dock, i.e. the radius where ships maneuver to dock. It is to be mentioned that this same machine made the dredging in Dubai Island, an imposing tourism complex where 70 thousand cubic meters of material were extracted along 11 kilometers o beach.
These works will have a cost of close to MEP$175 million and estimates are that 1 million 700 thousand cubic meters of material will be removed to reach the projected depth.Source: Puertoensenada.com.mx
French companies will invest US$800 million in Mexico
Mexico City,- French companies will invest in Mexico around US$800 million in the aeronautics and pharmaceutical sectors, President Felipe Calderon announced during the official visit made to Mexico by his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy.
The Mexican President said that Eurocopter will invest US$550 million in a plant in Mexico.
"We will buy, of course, some of those helicopters produced here", Calderon said during a meeting with businessmen from both countries.
He further informed that Pharmaceutical Sanofi-Aventis SA will invest US$126 million and the aeronautics firm Safran will invest US$150 million more as part of the bi-national project to produce bio-fuel from crops not used as food such as a salicornia plants.Source: El Diario
MEXICO'S WEEKLY HEADLINES
- -- Boeing seeks for cooperation from Mexico
- -- Sales of cars in Mexico in their worst level in 10 years
- -- Invest in infrastructure, option before the crisis: Calderon
- -- BID announces injection of $2,600 million for Mexico
- -- Danone will invest 10 Million in Jalisco
EDITORIAL
A MEXICAN'S VIEWPOINT: Optimism VS. Realism
A few months ago, late in 2008, I was invited to speak in Tec de Monterrey's Graduate School. After my speech, a nation-wide newspaper approached me for a "Hallway Interview". During this interview I talked about the start of some foreign operations in Nuevo Leon. However, I was asked, among other things, if there were any foreign companies that had postponed their projects to establish in Mexico, and specifically in Monterrey, because of the economic crisis, to which I answered that unfortunately it was so. After the interview was published, it did not take long to receive some comments from my bosses regarding my affirmations… Crisis was barely beginning; and the message was "Be optimistic and realistic…"I am only talking about this now because of the recent declarations by the Minister of the Treasury, Agustin Carstens, saying we "are in a hole" and it will be difficult to get out due to the economic impact of world crisis; while a few months ago he had minimized the problem saying we would not "get infected with pneumonia from a bad cold in the US economy", as it used to happen.
How can you be optimistic and tell people the crisis is not having a significant impact on us when in less than 6 months our currency has devalued more than 58.6% when compared to the last quarter of 2008? How can you tell people the crisis is not having a significant impact when unemployment is not only rising but escalating? How can you be optimistic and tell people the crisis is not having a significant impact when we see technical stoppages and decreases in workers' salaries?The greatest sin in many government officers, me included, is falling into the temptation of arrogance. This happens precisely when we think that external conditions and even the Law of God will not affect families' or people's circumstances or welfare.
Both, society and government are facing a huge challenge. Only in the United States pessimism – or realism – is evident when firms such as Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., the investment firm property of Warren Buffett, the 3rd wealthiest man in the world, reported its fifth quarter with losses, along with 12 million jobless people in a population which was previously considered economically active. As a matter of fact, these are the largest unemployment figures since 1983, when the US was recovering from an economic crisis which characterized for annual inflation above 10%, which is rather low if we consider that on those days Mexico was suffering from 100% annual inflation, after banks nationalization by then President Jose Lopez Portillo. "I will defend Mexican Peso like a dog", Lopez Portillo once said, trying to send a message of optimism before a reality every Mexican was enduring, quite different from the message the Federal Government wanted to send.I have witnessed comments, speeches and interviews by government officers, me included, regarding the economic crisis being suffered not only by Mexico but by the whole world. It is hard when reality says that we are immersed in a deep economic crisis and at the same time we want to be optimistic about what is really happening.
We may be accused of being unrealistic or, even worse, not being sensitive to what is actually happening. The press has even mentioned we could face an "economic tsunami". The Minister of the Treasury, Agustin Carstens, could hardly convince people that we will soon get out of this. My attention was called by Enrique Quintana, Economy Editorialist, when comparing to current reality he said: Is it best to tell a patient that there is no serious problem and that he will recover soon, when his best hope is aggressive chemo? I agree with his very particular point of view… Problem is that it is us, people, who suffer "chemo" once again absorbing the costs of the economic crisis. Some years ago when I was asked what was happening in Mexico economically speaking, I would reply that nothing, our growth was still too low; however this is like treadmills, if you do not walk, even if you are not advancing, you may fall back… This is what used to happen before the crisis in Mexico. Nowadays we have to be at the same time optimistic and realistic and take those "lemons" the world-wide economic crisis is giving us.(*) THE AUTHOR IS ATTORNEY AT LAW GRADUATED FROM TEC DE MONTERREY -ITESM-, WITH A MASTER'S DEGREE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW (LL.M) FROM AMERICAN UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON COLLEGE OF LAW AND A MASTER'S DEGREE IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (MPA) FROM THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY. HE HAS BEEN INTERNATIONAL LAW PROFESSOR IN NUEVO LEON'S PUBLIC UNIVERSITY, UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE NUEVO LEON -UANL. HE IS CURRENTLY HEAD OF FOREIGN INVESTMENT OFFICE FOR THE STATE OF NUEVO LEON GOVERNMENT, HE IS MEMBER OF THE MEXICAN COUNCIL FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, CONSEJO MEXICANO DE ASUNTOS INTERNACIONALES (COMEXI). OPINIONS EXPRESSED HEREIN ARE THE AUTHOR'S EXCLUSIVELY AND DO NOT REPRESENT THOSE OF THE INSTITUTIONS TO WHICH THE AUTHOR IS LINKED.
