Bulletin 554 - Friday, January 27, 2012

Mexico City.- The establishment of three new automotive plants in Mexico: Honda, Mazda and Nissan, will encourage auto parts production in 2013. The Mexican Auto Parts Industry Association, Industria Nacional de Autopartes (INA), is forecasting that by 2013, when the three new automotive plants start operating, auto parts production will growth between 15% and 20%, to reach US$83 billion in production value. In an interview, Oscar Albin, INA's Chairman, said that in order to meet the demand for automotive components to be required by the new assemblers, this year 40 auto parts factories will be installed in Mexico. INA would not detail which companies will invest in auto parts sector, but did say that most are companies with transnational operations, such as Getrag, Magna and Steyer. "The installation of 40 new plants is planned for this year, some of them are expansions of existing facilities, but all of them are of worldwide renowned Tier 1 suppliers, which will establish throughout the country", Albin pointed-out.

Source: Reforma

Mexico City- Last year maquiladora industry posted 13% growth in exports, 5% growth in investment and closed with 250,000 new jobs, according to the National Council of Maquiladora and Export Manufacturing Industry, Consejo Nacional de la Industria Maquiladora y Manufacturera de Exportacion (CNIMME). This means that the sector contributed with around 40% of the 611,000 formal jobs generated by the Mexican economy. With such jobs generation, Maquiladora and Export Manufacturing Industry (IMMEX) reaches a labor force of 1 million 890 thousand people. For this type of industries, 2011 was the best year ever since the international financial crisis started, outdoing in growth even 2010, which was a year of considerable rebound.

Source: El Diario de Chihuahua

Mexico.- Toyota will establish another vehicles assembly plant in Mexico, and they will bring their Lexus hi-end brand, it is just a matter of deciding the right time, and the site for the factory. And if these plans have not materialized is because the company has 14 plants more in North America, and the international economic situation has not allowed it. This is what Adolfo Hegewisch, President and CEO, Toyota Motor Sales de Mexico, said to El Financiero newspaper, after pointing-out that Mexico is strategic for Toyota. Toyota has been putting its money in Mexico in the last 10 years, building a pick-up assembly plant in Baja California Norte, where US$180 million were invested, and through purchases from auto parts suppliers established in Mexico for US$1.1 billion. They have also created 874 direct jobs and 4,599 indirect jobs, only in their dealerships network, which have provided service to over 400,000 units in 10 years of operations in the domestic market.

Source: El Financiero

Mexico City.- Nissan announced a US$2 billion investment in the construction of a new plant in Aguascalientes, where they will produce models derived from platform B. 3,000 new direct jobs and around 9,000 indirect jobs in the chain of suppliers will be created by the new plant; this will take Nissan's labor force in Mexico to 13,500 employees. The new plant, Nissan's third in Mexico, will start operations by the end of 2013 and will have capacity for 175,000 units per year.

Source: El Norte

Monterrey, NL.- The railroad Kansas City Southern announced that this year they will invest a little over US$125 million in Mexico; David Eaton, Sales and Marketing Director said that the resources will be spent focused on meeting demand from new plants of automotive or home appliances industries. In Nuevo Leon, he said, two investments are expected to trigger economic activity; one of them is the one to be made by Ternium in Pesqueria Municipality. "We see that there are new players in home appliances industry and new automotive plants, such as Mazda's and Honda's in Guanajuato. Therefore, our investments are meant to meet the growing demand of new plants from these industries, which we estimate will grow 8% this year", Mr. Eaton declared.

Source: T21

Detroit.- During Detroit Auto Show the news of Volkswagen Group considering to build a new vehicles assemble plant in Mexico spread like a wildfire. VW de Mexico currently has a vehicles assembly plant in Puebla, working at full capacity; they also have the recently inaugurated engines plant in Guanajuato. The idea of building a new factory in Mexico arises from the fact that the number of vehicles assembled in Puebla Plant cannot be increased , and there is no land to expand the premises. Also, considering the ups and downs of several currencies, such as Euro, US Dollar and Yen, Mexico would be an excellent choice to build a new plant, taking into consideration its broad suppliers base, labor quality and the many trade agreements Mexico has with several countries, sources close to VW de Mexico said.

Source: Excelsior

Mexico.- In a tour through Italy, the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Ferrari, invited European businessmen to invest in Mexico and take advantage of the opportunities offered by Mexico in several sectors. While participating in the seminar "Mexico, Strategic Country for Trade and Investment", Mr. Ferrari said that unlike other countries, Mexico has a stable economy and favorable and sound macroeconomic conditions. In the keynote speech "Italy-Mexico: Trade Exchange and Economic Cooperation", Ferrari called businessmen to take advantage of the opportunities offered by Mexico in sectors such as automotive, footwear and renewable energy, among others. The Ministry of the Economy informed in a press release that the trip being made by Minister Ferrari, together with Carlos Guzman Bonfil, General Director, ProMexico, has the purpose of strengthening trade exchange and attract investments from Europe.

Source: Notimex