Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2017

Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean • 2017
Chapter III
165
A. Exports
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Figure III.11
North America:
exports and imports
of automotive products,
by type, 1995-2016
(Percentages)
1995
2000
2005
2010
2016
1995
2000
2005
2010
2016
1995
2000
2005
2010
2016
Canada Mexico United States
B. Imports
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Electrical equipment
for automotive products
Engines
Parts, accessories, components
Buses
Trucks
Passenger automobiles
and light commercial vehicles
1995
2000
2005
2010
2016
1995
2000
2005
2010
2016
1995
2000
2005
2010
2016
Canada Mexico United States
Source: Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), on the basis of United Nations Commodity Trade
Statistics Database (COMTRADE).
Note: Automotive products per groups 778.3, 713.2, 784, 783, 782 and 781 of the Standard International Trade Classification
(SITC), Rev. 3.
Between 2010 and mid 2016, automobile companies, including car manufacturers,
invested some US$ 80.7 billion in the United States and close to US$ 25.8 billion in
Mexico. Investments in the United States centred mainly on the Great Lakes region
(62%) —led by General Motors, Ford and FCA— and on the southern states (19%),
where Japanese, South Korean and European producers have a strong presence (AAPC,
2016). As discussed below, these figures cast doubt on assertions that the United
States automobile industry has been destroyed by lower operating costs in Mexico.
B. A new business model: high-end vehicles
for the global market
In the past 25 years the Mexican automotive industry has gone from being focused on
satisfying the needs of its domestic market to become an export platform hosting the
majority of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers. Key to this deep transformation
has been the combination of the country’s trade openness, the signing of NAFTA and