And people wonder why these companies are relocating to Mexico?
$1:
Low labour costs and fewer tariffs are the swing factors. A worker in Mexico costs car companies an average of $8 an hour, including wages and benefits. That compares with $58 in the U.S. for General Motors and $38 at Volkswagen's factory in Tennessee, the lowest hourly cost in the U.S., according to the Center for Automotive Research, an industry think-tank in Ann Arbor, Michigan. German auto workers cost about $52 an hour.
Mexico also trumps the U.S. on free trade. It has agreements with 45 countries, meaning low tariffs for exporting globally. That, along with low labour costs, convinced Audi to build an SUV factory in the state of Puebla. The German automaker will save $6,000 per vehicle in tariffs when it ships a Q5 to Europe, compared with building the same vehicle in the U.S., says Sean McAlinden, chief economist at CAR.
Audi also sells the Q5 in the U.S., where tariffs on cars built in Mexico were dropped under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The cost savings also should allow automakers to add expensive fuel-saving features to meet stricter U.S. government gas mileage requirements without raising car prices. Two-thirds of cars made in Mexico are shipped to the U.S.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/autos/canada-s-lo ... -1.2337692So how the hell do we compete with that? What people forget is that despite the commercials about mom, apple pie and the American way these companies are in the business for nothing but big profit and if you could build an auto factory on mars to make vehicles cheaper they'd be there now.
But on the plus side, I'm getting excited about buying my first $2,500 TATA Nano so I don't have to put up with any of those pesky addon's like............. safety features.
![Cheer [cheer]](./images/smilies/icon_cheers.gif)