Monterrey, NL. In the event that the initiative of the United States government to grant subsidies for the purchase of electric cars assembled in that country is approved, the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC) would not be respected, in addition the assemblers would would bring the production of electric vehicles to the American Union, said Manuel Montoya Ortega, director of the Nuevo León Automotive Cluster and president of the National Network of Automotive Industry Clusters.
“You cannot give an incentive that way because you are telling the citizen, if you buy a car made in the United States, I will give you an incentive, it is a violation of the T-MEC and it is a very bad antecedent, any other industry could do the same ”, he commented.
“The other issue is that it affects the future of the automotive industry, because if that were approved, the assemblers would take the production of electric vehicles to the United States; Even if the assembler sells it at the same price, it will be cheaper for the citizen, on the other hand, if it is produced in Mexico, it would cost the citizen $ 7,500 more expensive, so it is an incentive to promote production in the United States and an obstacle to produce in Mexico ”, he added to El Economista.
Under this assumption, the automakers would have the production of internal combustion vehicles here and the electric ones, they would manufacture them in the United States. Hence, Ford’s investments in the Cuautitlán plant, which is already producing electric vehicles, as well as General Motors, which would begin production in 2023 at the Ramos Arizpe plant, Coahuila, would be at risk. “I do not know if this plant manufactures those vehicles, it could be that this production is not brought to Mexico,” said Montoya Ortega.
“The future is electric cars, in five, 10 or 15 years the world production of electric cars will rise from 15 to 25%, that directly affects our future,” he said.
However, this decision would not affect assembler suppliers, such as Monterrey’s Metalsa and Nemak, who can produce in Saltillo or Texas, but it would affect the final plants. “For example, Nemak already has many contracts to make components for electric vehicles,” he said.
In this sense, he urged Mexican manufacturers to look for electric customers, since he considered that the assembly plants located in Mexico are not going to be assigned to manufacture these vehicles by their corporations because it will be more convenient for them to do so in the United States.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx