Italian brake manufacturer Brembo has completed its US $207 million expansion of its manufacturing plant in Escobedo, Nuevo León.
The 322,917-square-foot project, which began in 2021, is expected to create 500 new jobs, on top of the 1,100 people already employed there. The investment doubled the factory’s size, which will allow it to increase output from 3 million to 6 million brake calipers per year, Brembo officials said. The Escobedo plant is now Brembo’s largest manufacturing site worldwide.
“As Brembo continues to advance the world of brakes, advanced facilities like this one help bring our vision to life,” Brembo North America President Stéphane Rolland said during the inauguration ceremony. “This represents another step in our mission to be a solutions provider and serve our customers globally.”
“For us, Nuevo León is a great place to do business. We have great skills, talented people that allow us to grow with Brembo,” he added.
The Escobedo site opened in 2016, and is one of three Brembo facilities in the northern state, alongside a cast-iron foundry and a disc-machining center, both located in the nearby city of Apodaca.
Nuevo León has seen a wave of foreign manufacturers relocate to the state — particularly those in the automotive industry — as nearshoring in Mexico becomes an increasingly attractive proposition for companies attempting to reach the North American markets at an affordable price. Seventy-two percent of nearshoring foreign investment in Mexico in 2023 have been in the state of Nuevo León, as the state takes advantage of relative peace and security and a highly-educated workforce in the region around the city of Monterrey. In January alone, nearshoring investments announced totaled US $2.5 billion.
The Italian company has had a presence in Mexico since beginning a joint venture in Puebla in 1996 and acquiring Hayes-Lemmerz in 2007. The Brembo group saw profits of 961.9 million euros during the first quarter of 2023.
Italian ambassador to Mexico Luiggi da Chiarra said that he hoped the new investment would increase ties between the two countries further.
Mexico is Italy’s top trading partner in Latin America, with around US $8.5 billion of goods traded between the two nations.
With reporting by Forbes, El Financiero and Mexico Business
