Anticipating a new sales record this year, Toyota demonstrated its confidence in Mexico by announcing a US $1.45 billion investment in factories in two Mexican states.
The Japanese carmaker will renovate its facilities in Tecate, Baja California, and in Apaseo el Grande, Guanajuato. The funds will help adapt manufacturing for Toyota’s new Tacoma pick-up truck and its hybrid model.
The new investments will also create 1,600 new jobs, Toyota México President Luis Lozano said on Thursday, after meeting with Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard.
Ebrard confirmed the news in a post on the social platform X, adding that Toyota “is one of the companies with which we are working closely, and it has a great future in our country.”
The announcement came just days after Donald Trump won re-election as U.S. president, following a campaign in which he pledged to place import tariffs on vehicles made in Mexico.
Ebrard celebrated Toyota’s news, highlighting the importance of creating certainty for investors in a challenging economic environment, the newspaper El Sol de Acapulco reported, especially as foreign direct investment plays such a crucial role in Mexico’s economy.
What will the Toyota investment bring to Mexico?
Toyota — which boasts 98 car dealerships in Mexico offering 18 vehicle models — said that not only will the investment increase production capacity at the two plants, but it will also incorporate new technologies that optimize use of resources and help reduce emissions.
After reporting a 22% increase in sales during the first half of the year, Toyota projected it would surpass 105,000 in combined sales — both internal combustion engine and hybrid electric vehicles — in 2024, according to El Financiero.
The company sold 58,081 vehicles — 27% of which were hybrid — during the first six months of the year, even after projecting sales of fewer than 100,000 cars in 2024. The initial forecast was influenced by supply problems — since resolved — involving semiconductors and other parts for hybrid vehicles.
Lozano said the latest investment announcement is in addition to those already made, and will bring Toyota’s total investment since arriving in Mexico 22 years ago to US $2 billion by the end of 2024.
En Toyota reafirmamos la confianza en México con una inversión de USD 1.45mil millones que ha creado 1,600 empleos al cierre de 2024 para producir Tacoma, sumando a los casi USD 2mil millones ya invertidos.
La industria automotriz debe seguir siendo un motor para el desarrollo. pic.twitter.com/psPFumWdWC
— Luis Lozano (@Llozano_toyota) November 8, 2024
Last year, the carmaker invested US $328 million in its Guanajuato plant, as it first moved to convert production processes for the new Tacoma hybrid. Overall, Toyota has invested close to $1.2 billion in the state since operations began there in 2019.
Last year’s investment converted Guanajuato into a key player in Toyota’s electrification production strategy, the company said in a June 2023 statement.
The success of Guanajuato’s transition is reflected in a study carried out by the digital platform Directorio Automotriz earlier this year.
The report found that in terms of suppliers, Guanajuato is home to 16 of the 67 electromobility and electrification component suppliers in the country, and to 18 of the 52 raw material suppliers nationwide. Since the beginning of 2023, 13 new investments directly related to electromobility have been established in Guanajuato.
With reports from El País, Reuters, Proceso, El Sol de Acapulco and El Economista
