Nissan wants to invest “the Americas” with three new low-cost subcompacts, made in Mexico by their Aguascalientes factory that can crank out 300,000 units a year. The cars are based on the Nissan’s V-platform. The Nissan March (known outside Asia as the Nissan Micra) is currently being made in Thailand and re-imported to Japan. It sells there for around $10,000. Read More >

I understand the economic argument for the off-shoring of production, but I think the practice is reprehensible. U.S. automakers have benefitted greatly from federal largesse and should feel morally compelled to retain and create as many domestic jobs as possible.

As one of the strongest proponents of the Detroit Bailout, Rep John Dingell (D-MI) carries some weight when he makes statements like this. But how can Detroit rise again by ignoring the undeniably strong “economic argument” for outsourcing? In a Bloomberg BusinessWeek feature, Thomas Black shows why production numbers are on the rise in Mexico, and makes the case that the Detroit automakers will only increase their reliance on Mexican production when they are free from government ownership.

Read More >

Ford is in-sourcing important parts of their hybrid-electric vehicles, and they are putting $135m behind the effort to bring the parts home and in-house. Currently, core parts are made abroad. Moving the making home to Michigan will create a whopping 170 jobs in Rawsonville and Van Dyke. But it’s a start. “I am proud of the tremendous success of the UAW and Ford in working together to keep good manufacturing jobs in the U.S.,” said Bob King, UAW vice president, National Ford Department. Read More >

I’ve long argued that if Detroit were to be nationalized (and it was, not that I’m arguing it was a good idea) the US government should make Detroit make it worth the taxpayers’ while and return production from low wage countries, such as Mexico, to the United States. This would have two effects: more US citizens would be hired and the government’s trade deficit would be reduced. Hey, if you’re going to make a private enterprise a government arm, then make that government arm contribute something positive to the country. Much of Detroit’s portfolio is made in Mexico: the Ford Fusion, the (yet to be released) Ford Fiesta, The Ford F-Series, the Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra, the Chevrolet Aveo/Pontiac G3 and the Chevrolet HHR to name but a few. This has long been a practice of Detroit and some transplants (e.g., VW with the Jetta and Beetle; Toyota with the Tacoma). Exploit low wage countries for maximum profits in higher wage countries. Well, Honda didn’t get the message.

Read More >