Chinese car maker BAIC to build plant in Mexico

The Chinese vehicle brand BAIC is still interested in building a plant in Mexico , for which the company has considered locations in eight different states in central and southern Mexico, according to Samuel Echeverría , operations manager of BAIC.

At the inauguration of their 34th agency in Tlanepantla, State of Mexico , Echeverría commented that the plant construction would start in 2020 and begin operating in 2022 .

“We currently have an assembly plant in the José Cardel municipality in Veracruz . The new plant will be meant for production and not assembly, though this has not been defined yet,” he stated.

Last year, BAIC informed that the states of Coahuila, Puebla, Nuevo León, Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Sonora, Hidalgo, and Guanajuato were competing to attract the company’s investment for a car factory.

Yucatán is one of the states that is most likely to host the new plant. The state governor has even hinted that there might soon be an electric car plant in the area.

BAIC intends to manufacture both electrical and gasoline-fueled cars, with an estimated production of between 5 and 20 thousand units to sell in Mexico, as well as Central and South America .

The Chinese company will manufacture their vehicles with the support of providers established in Mexico such as Bosch and Hella . It is estimated that between 20% and 30% of the vehicles will be made out of local parts.

The company assembles the sedan D20 and the SUV X25 in Veracruz , though other models such as the X35, X65, BJ20, and BJ40 are also sold in Mexico .

For his part, Li Xingxing, the executive vice-president of BAIC , said that the Mexican government had had a successful diplomatic approach with the Asian giant.

“BAIC has sent many groups to Mexico for market analysis and there is a strong communication between Mexico and China,” he indicated.

Earlier this year, BAIC became a partner at the Mexican Association of Automotive Industry (AMIA) . The Chinese car maker will finalize 2018 with the sale of two thousand vehicles. In 2019 , BAIC plans to sell between four and six thousand units , betting strong in electric cars.

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