Shanghai, December 18 (Gasgoo.com) China's Hebei Zhongxing Automobile Co. (ZX Auto) has signed an agreement to make vehicles in the Mexican state of Baja California. Inside Line reported yesterday. The deal was inked in China last month between ZX Auto and the Mexican state's governor.
ZX Auto had plans in 2006 to build a facility in Tijuana to produce SUVs and pickups. The next year, the company moved the plant's siting to Saltillo in northeast Mexico, to incorporate a new U.S. company named CHAMCO (China America Cooperative Automotive).
The whole project was then canceled after fraud allegations against the CHAMCO leadership came to light, harming the small Chinese automaker's momentum in Mexico. Earlier this month, Baja California's governor revealed ZX Auto's investment plans for annual production of 200,000 vehicles.
According to the plans, which are projected to amount to some $400 million and employ 1,400 people, ZX Auto would partner with Mexican Grupo FEMA, a local chain of Ford dealerships and a real estate developer.
ZX Auto sold only 6,000 vehicles last year in its considerably larger home market of China. Its Mexican plant's closeness to the U.S.-Mexico border clearly sets the company's longer-term priorities.
It would make sense for ZX Auto to produce in Mexico some models that the company currently sells in China and South America, such as the Landmark SUV, Admiral pickup, and Cruiser CUV.
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