There are 1350 auto parts producers in Mexico. It is intimately related to the U.S. automotive industry. There are approximately one thousand auto parts manufacturers in Mexico and about 70% of them are subsidiaries of foreign corporations, mainly from the United States. Fifty eight percent of the automobiles sold in Mexico are imported, of which, 75% come from the United Sates. Increased Mexican production of new models is now also increasing U.S. exports for auto parts.
· Greater Monterrey, Mexico’s industrial powerhouse
The Monterrey and Saltillo metropolitan regions have become major automotive parts manufacturing hubs. Component manufacturers located in the area supply major automotive assembly plants throughout Mexico.
Greater Monterrey, home to 4 million people, is considered Mexico’s industrial powerhouse. Well over 100 auto parts manufacturers are active in the region. Additionally, there are hundreds of other types of suppliers providing assembly processes for component manufacturers that aren’t necessarily considered direct suppliers to the auto industry. Monterrey’s home-grown successes include NEMAK, a major producer of aluminum heads and blocks, and METALSA, Latin America’s largest manufacturer of small truck and car chassis. Other prominent firms in Monterrey include IMSA Enertec (car battery manufacturer), Carplastic-Visteon (plastic injection parts), and Delphi (automotive electronics for GM and other brands). Finally, Navistar buses, Freightliner trucks, and Volvo and Mercedes class 8 trucks are assembled in Monterrey.
· Mexico’s auto parts industry in history
In Mexico’s auto parts industry consists of 500 to 600 companies, 70% of them located in Mexico City’s metropolitan area, 20% in Querétaro, Puebla, Jalisco, and Nuevo León, and the restin eleven different states (Secretaría de Comercio y Fomento Industrial 1993c). Output concentration is high. In 1992 less than thirty firms accounted for 70% of the domestic market (Instituto Mexicano de Ejecutivos de Finanzas 1993), most of them belonging to one of the ten Mexican industrial groups that engage in auto parts manufacturing. For certain auto parts and components there are only one or two local producers in Mexico (Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México 1992b).
