Manufacturing
Audi plans 90 percent local sourcing in Mexico
Automotive News - Audi purchasing chief Bernd Martens said the planned factory in San Jose Chiapa, Mexico, will buy 90 percent of its components from local sources in six years. So far no other Audi location has done that.
Ford to shift Fiesta production to Thailand
Automotive News - Ford Motor Co., moving to ease production constraints in North America, plans to shift output of the Fiesta subcompact from Mexico to Thailand in 2016. Ford assembles the Fiesta at 10 sites worldwide.
GM to build Nissan cargo vehicle in Cuernavaca
Sentido Comun - Nissan Motor, Japan's second largest producer of vehicles, reached an agreement with General Motors to produce a small cargo vehicle at its plant in Cuernavaca and that GM will sell the vehicle in the United States and Canada.www.sentidocomun.com.mx/
Japanese auto suppliers boosting Engel business
Plastics News - Engel Holding says its sales in Mexico of injection molding machines, robots and spare parts soared in fiscal 2012, boosted by purchases from a hitherto ignored source: Japanese Tier 1 auto parts suppliers.
How Mexico gained bigger share of auto production
Quartz - Mexico’s auto production has taken a big leap since Nafta. The country now accounts for roughly 20 percent of North American light vehicle production, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago report, compared with a 6 percent share in 1990.
qz.com/81739/adios-motor-city-how-mexico-is-becoming-the-worlds-best-place-to-make-cars/
Mexico's auto boom spurs growth in related activities
Financial Times - The newest figures from the Mexican auto industry association, AMIA, point to continued powerful growth not only from the car makers themselves but from associated industries.
blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/05/07/mexicos-auto-boom/#axzz2ScVd2tax
Auto output, exports rise in April vs. year ago
Reuters - Mexico's auto production and shipments rose in April compared with the same month a year earlier. Automobile output rose 15.6 percent to 238,766 vehicles, while exports from Latin America's second-biggest economy rose 2.8 percent to 185,548 units.
www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/07/mexico-auto-idUSL2N0DO17G20130507
Mexico is getting some Audi love
Financial Times - The auto industry’s love affair with Mexico seems to know no bounds these days. Just days after Japan’s Honda announced the creation of a $470 million transmission plant, Audi laid the foundation stone for a $1.3 billion assembly plant.
blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2013/05/06/mexico-getting-some-audi-love/#axzz2ScVd2tax
Audi's Mexico plant aimed at unseating BMW
Bloomberg - Among the dry, scrub-covered hills outside the Mexican town of San Jose Chiapa, a plot of land the size of 45 football fields will soon give Volkswagen AG (VOW) a boost in its effort to become the world’s biggest automaker.
www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-02/audi-1-3-billion-mexico-suv-plant-aimed-at-unseating-bmw.html
GM begins Silverado 2014 production in Silao
Michigan Live - Production for General Motors’ redesigned 2014 Chevy Silverado began in Silao, Mexico, earlier this week, but a date for the Flint-produced heavy-duty line has yet to be announced.
www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2013/04/gm_begins_production_of_2014_s.html
