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Ford commits largest auto investment ever in Mexico

Stephen Downer
Automotive News
May 31, 2008 - 9:27 am ET

MEXICO CITY -- Ford Motor Co.'s $3 billion investment in three manufacturing projects is the largest ever made in the Mexican automotive industry, Mexico's President Felipe Calderon said Friday.

"It's a great day for Mexico," said Calderon, who has made the automotive industry one of the four pillars of a six-year economic growth plan.

A few minutes earlier at a ceremony held in Los Pinos, Calderon's official residence, Ford CEO Alan Mulally announced the investment to an audience of government ministers and the national auto industry's hierarchy.

The sum includes $1 billion to assemble the Ford Fiesta sedan and hatchback for North America at the Cuautitlan plant, near Mexico City, starting in the first quarter of 2010.

Mulally also said Ford will expand its Chihuahua engine plant to make diesel engines for light- and medium-duty trucks and build a new small car transmission plant in a joint venture with German supplier Getrag in the city of Irapuato, Guanajuato state.

Accompanied by Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, and Louise Goeser, president of Ford Mexico, Mulally said Ford's contribution to the $3 billion total is $2.4 billion, with the rest coming from "the local supply base."