MEXICO CITY - The Ford Motor Co. (IW 500/6) on Friday announced a $2.5 billion plan to expand and build new engine and transmission plants in Mexico, a new investment boosting the country's auto sector.
Speaking at an event alongside President Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico's capital, Joseph Hinrichs, the company's president for the Americas region, said the projects in the states of Chihuahua and Guanajuato will create 3,800 direct jobs.
The new $1.1 billion gasoline-powered engine facility will be built within Ford's plant in the northern border state of Chihuahua to boost engine exports to the United States, Canada, South America and the Asia-Pacific region, Hinrichs said.
The company will also spend $200 million to expand the Chihuahua plant's production of I-4 and diesel engines, he said, turning the facility into the biggest engine plant in Mexico.
The new $1.2 billion transmission plant will be built on the premises of Ford supplier Getrag in the city of Irapuato, Guanajuato.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2015
