Small cars to fuel production boom in Mexico

Surging MexicoAnnual production could rise roughly 50% this decade.- 2013 production: 2,934,049- Estimated increase: 1,535,000*- With new plants: 4,469,049*Total capacity of plants under construction or reported to be plannedSource: Automotive News Data Center Mexican auto factory output is poised to explode this decade, making the country a top source of U.S. vehicle imports -- particularly small cars. Automotive News estimates that just-opened and newly announced plants in Mexico will add more than 1.5 million units of vehicle capacity there through 2019, much of it aimed at U.S. consumers. That will give Mexico the factory muscle to turn out 4.5 million cars and trucks -- roughly a 50 percent increase over the 2,934,049 units built in Mexico in 2013.A stream of new export-oriented projects in Mexico has been announced this summer. On Thursday, luxury carmaker BMW AG said it will spend $1 billion to build a 150,000-unit-capacity plant in San Luis Potosi in central Mexico. The plant will begin production in 2019 and will employ about 1,500, said Harald Krueger, BMW board member responsible for production. BMW did not say what vehicles will be built there. BMW's plan went public less than one week after its chief competitor, Daimler AG, and technology partner Renault-Nissan said they will spend $1.36 billion to construct a factory for compact luxury cars in Aguascalientes, Mexico. That plant -- adjacent to a new Nissan-brand factory that opened late last year -- will build 300,000 Mercedes and Infiniti vehicles in as many as six model configurations.

Small cars to fuel production boom in Mexico

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