Audi Hecho En Mexico
Rumors of Audi starting U.S. production have been floating around for a while. Tennesseans in Chattanooga had hoped Audi would move in with Volkswagen. These hopes have been dashed over the weekend. Germany’s Spiegel report s that Audi will get its own plant in Mexico.
A plan to produce a new generation of Audi’s Q5 sport-utility vehicle from 2015 in Mexico will be presented to Volkswagen’s supervisory board at its next scheduled meeting on April 18, says Der Spiegel. If approved (which is very likely,) production could start in 2015, the magazine said.
Blaming an (unlikely) UAWification for Audi’s decision to build in Mexico is cute spin, but it is spin nonetheless. Until recently, top brass in Wolfsburg had argued to go Chattanooga. Ingolstadt brass was against it. Volkswagen insiders know that “Audianer” try to do their own thing whenever possible. And it looks like it has been made possible again.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Interesting. If it's sold here, it won't be the first in its segment to be built in Mexico (SRX). Mercedes, however, has several plants in Mexico that make everything from commercial trucks to the S-Class, yet we still get our MBs from Germany or Alabama. Of course VW is bolder, having already sold countless Slovak-built Touregs and Q7s at luxury prices.
Most of the people who buy the Q5 would not know it is from Mexico, they would assume it is from Germany, why? It has to do with the dealership shopping experience and not the actual VIN ID. And that's the answer the VW board will give to their share holders when they are being ask would American buy a Mexican build Audi. While many GM products are actually made in the USA, people usually assume they are from Mexico anyway. Again it is that dealership shopping experience!
The reason Mexican immigrants to the US are being demonized is not because they won't work. It is because they will work much harder and do a better job than US citizens. Severn years ago I had a room built onto my home in south Alabama. The builder used an all Mexican crew. He told me that they simply did a better job than local crews. The work was done on time and under budget. Since than, I have retired and moved to Mexico. Now I see how hard people will work. Every morning, my neighbors are out sweeping the street if front of their homes. The litter on the road is picked up. Everything is clean. A Mexicano can do anything a UAW member can do, except get paid $28.00 per hour.
The problem is more if you live in one of the cities that are now populated with such a large amount of illegal Hispanics that the wages of most jobs haven't held up with inflation , even most professional ones . And many jobs that don't pay all that well require that you be bilingual . And a good work ethic combined with a willingness to work for cheap and claim that you know how to do everything whether you do or not and a spotty command of English doesn't necessarily result in fine craftmanship . At least there are an endless amount of taquerias .