Autoblog

Click above for a high-res gallery of Fiat's Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

As the dollar weakens, European manufacturers continue to scramble for manufacturing opportunities offshore to salvage profits. Fiat is the latest to jump into the fray. Company sources are saying the Italian automaker is currently considering Mexico as a production site -- with their eyes on an existing plant that could be tooled up for 150,000 cars a year. With their Alfa Romeo brand launching in the United States next year, and Fiat sales up significantly in South America, a plant in centrally-located Mexico could easily supply demand for both markets. If approved, the Mexican plant would start building Alfa Romeos and Fiats in 2011.

[Source: Automotive News, subs. req'd]

It's been easy to forget about Nissan's small car offerings with the recent introduction of the redesigned Maxima in New York and the impending arrival of the GT-R for the first time on U.S. shores. But some of Nissan's more compact vehicles remain the bread and butter of the brand and fill the transportation needs of the masses. However, they're far from exciting and recent sales in the U.S. bear this out. To cope with these slow movers, Nissan is planning to idle its Aguascalientes, Mexico plant for a seven days this month so it can realign production with demand. According to Automotive News, the slowdown of car sales in America is expected to cause a bit of a slump for Mexico's burgeoning automotive industry, as many of the export models built there are intended for sale in the States. After the seven day closure, things should be back to normal, and hopefully sales of Nissan's small cars will rise along with fuel prices.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Alfa Romeo is returning to the US market in about a year, offering the zooty 8C Competizione and 8C Spider atop a range of less spectacular offerings. While the top-end 8Cs will probably be Italian emigres, the 149 and 169 sedans could be put together in Mexico. Alfa doesn't have a hard and fast decision yet, and could pick another site, even one in North America. Moving the labor to Mexico for the volume sellers might prove to be a wise move on Alfa's part. The dollar continues to take a beating, pushing up the cost of European items on US sales markets, and building somewhere else would sidestep some of those increased costs. Alfa is trying this idea in China, too, where Chery will assemble automobiles for that market. We're all for it if it gets the keys to some stylish Italians in our hands while holding the prices down. The quality can't be any worse than it was in the bad old days that led to the notorious reputation for unreliability that afflicted Italian marques. Besides, those shop queens were so joyous to drive, they made suckers out of all of us, and we'd do it again, given the chance.

[Source: Inside Line]

Ford's European-developed Verve will go on sale in the States sometime in 2010, aimed to capture some of the burgeoning small car market. Making money on small cars is always the sticking point when talk turns to subcompacts, and Ford's eyeing Mexico as the production location for the Verve. The Detroit Free Press has spoken with insiders who concur that while it'd be tough to build the Verve in the United States, Cuautitlan, Mexico makes more sense.

US automakers have been building cars in Mexico for years. The wages are lower, OEM suppliers are following the car companies across the border, and the government is happy to deal. Mexico is also ideally positioned to send cars north to the US and Canada, or move vehicles down to South American markets. Brazil has also been mentioned as a potential production location, but that doesn't seem as practical as Mexico, according to the Freep's moles. One thing is for sure, when the Verve arrives, there'll finally be some stylish Ford cars to buy here in the U.S.

[Source: Freep]

Chrysler and Chery will finally consummate their corporate marriage south of the border when a version of the Dodge-badged Chery A1 goes on sale in Mexico soon. The Chinese econobox will be built at Chery's Wuhu plant and exported to Mexico. According to a review in the Wall Street Journal, beyond a vibration in the steering column at 100 mph, some interior fitment issues and a lack of grunt with four adults in the car, the A1 handled the daily slog with relative ease. Not bad for a little over $5,000.

Sales of the Dodge/Chery A1 in the States are expected sometime in 2009, assuming that the subcompact can meet U.S. crash and emissions standards. Regardless, we're still waiting for the Hornet.

[Source: China Car Times via TTAC]

While Bernie Ecclestone continues to bring grands prix to new markets every year, additional locations around the world get to see part of the Formula One action through individual teams staging demonstration events.

BMW-Sauber has held several such high-profile events, returning to the Nurburgring Nordschleife and racing on ice in Switzerland, and we reported on Ferrari's demo in Barbados a year ago. The latest event, organized by the Renault F1 team and title sponsor ING, drew a staggering record crowd of 300,000 on the streets of Mexico City, where Giancarlo Fisichella and test driver Nelson Piquet, Jr. drove last year's championship-winning R26 race car for the elated crowd.

The event marked what was undoubtedly the largest F1 event in the city since the last Mexican Grand Prix was held there in 1992, though both the NASCAR Busch Series and A1GP still hold races there.

To view fans' videos from the event, follow the link to Renaultsport's blog here.

[Source: Autosport.com]

Saab managing director, Jan-Ake Jonsson has confirmed that GM's Swedish brand is working with Cadillac on compact crossovers smaller than the current Trailblazer based 9-7x. The two new crossovers are expected to slot in between the BMW X3 and X5 in size, but although they share a platform, they will have totally different styling. Both of the new vehicles will be built in Mexico for sale world wide. Given the expected size of the vehicles and the fact that they are to built in Mexico, they will probably be derived from GM's Theta platform which underpins the new Saturn Vue and Opel Anterra.

Unlike the Saturn and Opel branded CUVs, the upmarket Saab and Cadillac will be powered by the new 2.9L V-6 diesel that was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show last March. It will be interesting to see if GM decides to offer the diesel in either vehicle in the US market since GM has previously indicated that they don't plan to offer that engine here. The Saab version at least will also use the new all-wheel-drive system recently introduced on the 9-3. Production should start within two years and a preview of the Saab could come as soon as Detroit show in January.

[Source: Just-Auto - Sub. Req.]

A series of recent bombings targeting natural gas pipelines in southern Mexico has now caused five carmakers to halt production in the country. The attacks have apparently been the work of the Popular Revolutionary Army, a rebel group in the state of Veracruz.

General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Volkswagen and, most recently, Honda, have all had to close plants in the past couple of days due to a lack of natural gas needed to power operations. A number of additional plants as well as supplier's plants may be affected over the next few days as well.

GM is working to switch over to propane at some of its plants, but others will remain closed until the natural gas supplies are restored. The Mexican oil company Pemex expects to have the pipelines restored and running again sometime between Sunday and Monday.

[Source: Detroit Free Press and Automotive News]

The port in Veracruz, Mexico, which ships ten to fifteen thousand vehicles per month, can do little but wait to see how powerful Hurricane Dean is going to get and where it's going to land. Though a port official said some think it might fall to the right of Veracruz, the port has been closed to ships up to 500 tons as of 8 am yesterday local time. The National Hurricane Center believes Dean could reach Category 5 -- that's Katrina strength -- by the time it touches Mexico.

The list of automakers utilizing the port includes VW, Chrysler, Ford, Nissan, Seat, Peugeot, BMW, GM, Renault, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Fiat, Toyota, Volvo, Audi and Jaguar. VW just received a week's worth of engines and parts for its factory in Puebla, which is the closest auto plant to the port. While it might have the equipment, if the port is wrecked, then it and all of the other makers could be in for a lengthy nightmare of disruptions and workarounds. The last Category 5 hurricane to reach Mexico was Wilma in 2005, and the $2.6 billion in damage that it did is still being repaired. Dean is expected to reach Veracruz by the time you read this or later in the morning, local time.

[Source: Auto News, sub req'd]

Come 2009, Chrysler's "Phoenix" V6 will begin to be built in Derramadero, Mexico, as the automaker seeks to increase the availability of more fuel-efficient engines. The plant, located near the automaker's Dodge Ram factory, will employ 485 workers, churn out 440,000 units each year and will cost $570 million to build.

Since Chrysler intends to outfit 20 new models with the aluminum block V6 in the next three years, the new plant in Mexico will work alongside the new Trenton plant, which the automaker broke ground on last month.

[Source: Detroit News]