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Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2011
31
From the
americas
And the antenna of such a car enables a better phone
connection than that provided by a mobile handset.
❖
❖
To return to the automotive basis of these projected
advances, it is worth noting that the Ford-Toyota joint
venture is not the first in the US for development of
hybrid technology for pickup trucks and SUVs. In 2004,
General Motors; DaimlerChrysler, of unhappy memory;
and BMW set up a joint hybrid development centre in
Troy, Michigan, to create electric motors, transmissions,
electronics, wiring, and safety modules. The system
developed there powers some GM pickups and SUVs
but has not sold well.
The strong yen confirms Honda in
its commitment to North American
production as well as sales
Honda Motor Co has said it will build an $800 million auto
plant in Celaya, in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, to make
subcompacts. Honda’s eighth facility in North America will
raise the Japanese car maker’s production capacity in that
market from the current 1.63 million units to 1.83 million
units by 2014. As noted by Chris Woodyard in
USA Today
(12
th
August), currently the compact Civic is the smallest
model made in North America by American Honda Motor
(Torrance, California).
The subcompacts it offers – the popular Fit and the
hybrid CR-Z and Insight – are made in Japan. But
the rising value of the Japanese yen vis-à-vis the US
dollar has been killing profits, and has prompted a tilt
by the company toward producing cars for Americans
closer to the point of sale. In 2010, more than
87% of Honda and Acura cars and light trucks sold in the
US were produced in North America. “This will be one
big plant,” wrote Mr Woodyard, plausibly: it will employ
3,200 workers to turn out 200,000 cars and engines a year.
Honda is no stranger to the Celaya automotive cluster, north
of Mexico City, where the German car maker Volkswagen
and the Italian tyre maker Pirelli, among others, have put
down roots. A Honda auto plant 210 miles to the east – in
the neighbouring Mexican state of Jalisco – already makes
cars, motorcycles, and auto parts.
A range of favourable factors draws
auto parts makers to Mexico
In the first half of 2011, according to the Mexican trade
association National Auto Parts Industry (INA), ten Japanese
automotive suppliers and others from Canada and Germany
(for a total of 50 overseas companies) invested in new
operations in Mexico. The INA credits this to a mature
Mexican automotive sector, proximity to the US, free trade
agreements that allow export to 40 countries, favourable