Japanese Automakers Find New Export Base, Opportunity In Mexico

One has to wonder if quality will go up.

@Marcus36 Yep, it can go either way. It all depends on management choices of materials, and management devising and monitoring the assembly process. There are enough commenters here with auto assembly knowledge to confirm, it's all on management..

@Lorenzo There are enough commenters here with auto assembly knowledge to confirm, it’s all on management.. ****************** Yes, there is a number of us here in this site, and yes it's all about managing the manufacturing process...

Can't see why it will go down.

Give me a break. While unions may have overstepped their bounds in the past, more damage was caused by poor management (Germany, Korea and Japan have stronger auto unions and they are export powerhouses). And recently, the UAW has given up a no. of things - such as allowing for a 2 tier wage system which made it profitable for a domestic (GM) to build a SUBcompact in the US (the Sonic). What's more unconscionable is the amount of compensation paid to the top execs - Mullaly and Ford, Jr. were both making more than VW's Winterkorn and at the time, VW was more profitable than all 3 domestic automakers combined. Also, NAFTA was a big reason why so many Mexicans and Central Amercians ended upo departing for the US - since heavily subsidized American big-agri decimated local farming in the region. And people wonder why incomes for the middle class has stagnated (actually gone down when it comes to purchasing power) over the past 3 decades. The top 1% has gotten an ever increasing portion of the pie, which is fine when the pie is growing but it hasn't. The top 1% and big corps. are flush w/ cash and assets but middle America is suffering b/c they ended up paying for it. Eventually, this will bite America in the arse b/c a country cannot continue to progress w/o a thriving middle class and it's the middle class that is the engine for growth (which is why Henry Ford doubled wages for his workers and yet saw his profits increase).

bd2, I'm not into this envy and jealousy thing that so many people subscribe to. I'm pretty much into helping myself and mine to get ahead without worrying about what others around me make or earn. I watched Richard Trumka on Bloomberg when I was having my breakfast. He laid out what the AFL-CIO was all about. He made a great case for unions. Then again, that's his business and livelihood. I completely understand that there are people who need the union to do their bidding for them, as well as the government with its mandates and regulations for employers. And that's precisely why I think that moving more production to neighboring Mexico is a good thing. It allows the manufacturers to make money, add to their bottom line, and it allows their customers to buy those goods at a lower price, not enhanced by paying for union-scale wages and benefits. If the employees want to share in the profits (and losses), let them buy stock in their employer. Bill Clinton, a Democrat, was a fervent believer in NAFTA. He signed it into law and promoted it nationwide! Even he thought that exporting jobs to NAFTA partners was preferable to union demands that drove employers into bankruptcy.

Maria: "Pedro, what are you doing, packing up all our squalor?" Pedro: "I've decided to move to the US illegally, so I can live an indigent lifestyle in squalor" Maria: "Well, we are Mexican, and that's what we love to do. But, hey, Pedro, you could apply for a job at the Mazda factory opening up down the street." Pedro: "Great idea, Maria, then I could actually use my engineering degree, rather than clean up HighDesertCat's trash all day." And everyone lived happily ever after..

@VoGo We have to haul our own trash to the county landfill, I live out in the boonies, 26 miles from the nearest town. I burn most of mine using old motor oil and a little bit of gasoline as the accelerant. I employ a lot of illegals, and have done so for decades. Most of those illegals really do live as indigents and in squalor. They work hard and are grateful to find work. NM is one of the few states that encourages illegals to get a NM drivers license, and then get the hell out of NM to any other place, and be a burden there. The Democrats of NM do not want to see this law changed.

@highdesertcat The local auto plants, in Mexico, do not employ the types that migrate to the US. They employ people who have education in technical skills. There are quite a few technical schools in the area where I live. Unfortunately, Mexico, like the US does not provide a quality education to all. That will change as the need for more educated workers grows. The people who went North did so because they were not able to find good paying work here. The people that I talk to who have returned from the US voluntarily mostly have used the money made in the US to start small businesses here. I know that where I live is not typical of Mexico, as the state of Jalisco is the richest state in the country. Living close to Guadalajara means that I am exposed to some of the most successful people in Mexico. The people of Guadalajara come down to the lakeside for weekends and vacations. Except for the language, you would mistake them for any upper middle class people in the US.

@VoGo Pedro: But Maria how will I live without HDCs generosity using his government paid retirement plan. He has worked for the us government his entire life, if he employs Gringos he might have to pay taxes. Maria: f that condescending pr!ck!

@Charliej There have been a number of illegals from Southern NM and West TX who have "gone home" over the years since the Hermosillo plant opened. While not all of them have gone back to Mexico to work in Auto assembly plants, there are plenty of other Maguiladoras that have opened South of the Border, and they have also acted as employment magnets. My American-born Mexican foreman, Federico, has told me on several occasions that some of his best workers, long time members of his team, have moved back to Mexico voluntarily. In NM, we do what we can for them, issuing them drivers licenses and selling them cheap cars so they can "get the hell out of Dodge" and head out of NM to the other 49 states and Canada.

@Charliej Good jobs in Mexico can only improve conditions there, and that would motivate more people to stay than emigrate to the US illegally. The driving force for illegal immigration is the difference between conditions in the two places. An economic downturn here reduces the disparity (and subsequent measured change in illegal immigration), and increasing prosperity there does the same. Personally, I prefer them being successful to us being in recession, but that's just me.

ExPatBrit, I haven't worked for the us government my entire life! Only for the period Jun65-Jul85, while serving in the military. After that I kept busy making money on my own. I have never been in anyone's employ after I retired from the military at age 38. Yours must be the Brits' way of thinking; 6000 years of history, uninterrupted by progress.

As Charliej correctly pointed out in his comment above, the automakers in Mexico hire the applicants who are better than the average bear, and smarter than the normal Jose. Anytime you open up anything anywhere, there are bound to be spin-off businesses and service-providers that spring up all around the core employer. This happened around the Toyota plant in Lexington, the Honda plant in Marysville and the Hyundai plant in Montgomery. When I visited those sites, years ago as part of a business-related trip, it was plainly evident that each plant brought prosperity to the community, the area and the region of that state. It is reasonable that building in Mexico has done the same for them, but I never venture more than twenty miles south of Ciudad Juarez into Mexico.

@highdesertcat HDC, why not? Central Mexico is such a beautiful, friendly place to live or visit. Many Americans and Canadians are making this area their retirement home. It is very much different than the border areas of Mexico. Living in the mountains, South of Guadalajara, the climate is perfect and the cost of living is also low. All in all a perfect retirement area.