[alcatraz]

Mexico is the place to build cars right now. It's cheap, has somewhat skilled labor and has access to the US market. Chrysler recognizes these virtues, and has decided to hire 500 Mexicans to build ProMaster engines in a plant in Ramos Arizpe.

I sometimes hear that Mexican workmanship can have questionable quality, or be inconsistent. Is anyone worried about this?

 

[Ram3500']

I'm a bit worried, I rather have it built in the U.S.A. where build quality is known to be higher. But who knows, maybe they will make a serious effort to uphold the same build quality down in Mexico.

 

[keithwwalker]

Many 'American' cars are built in Mexico. Reason that the Promaster is built in Saltillo is that it is in a free trade zone that covers both USA and South America. GM and MBZ have plants in that city. The Promaster engines are not the first engines to be built by Chrysler down there:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltillo_Engine
http://www.chryslergroupllc.com/company/aboutus/cdem/Pages/AboutUs-CdeM.aspx
http://media.chrysler.com/newsrelease.do?id=10498&mid=105
http://media.chrysler.com/newsrelease.do;jsessionid=83AD0FB17F405AF22C813513938E64B1?&id=319&mid=317

 

[Sweet Tooth]

I am not worried at all. There are far worse places that they could be building the ProMaster. While it would be nice to have the jobs in the US instead, it makes sense with free trade that Mexico would get a lot of manufacturing jobs. I am pretty sure that a lot of car manufacturing goes on in Mexico, and its not like every car Mexico makes reports problems. Any problems that there are are one offs IMO, not a pattern. Its not like they are building them in Bangladesh.

 

[Dwight]

Mexican factories can be just like the US. I was visiting a Mexican plant, just a few weeks ago. No worries.

 

[Ram3500']

Mexican factories can be just like the US. I was visiting a Mexican plant, just a few weeks ago. No worries.

How I see it, it all comes down to how they manage it. If they give the right training, get the right amount of people on board or more, then there shouldn't be a problem.

 

[keithwwalker]

Timely press release concerning the Mexican plants:
http://www.allpar.com/news/index.php/2013/10/chrysler-confirms-mexico-investment
Interesting facts in the press release:
7-10 Promasters are built per hour
$1 Billion investment (wow, they have a lot of faith in the Promaster!)

 

[miked]

I'm not so sure about the engine being built here. Chrysler is importing the sheet metal from Europe so the power pack would only make sense to do the same. When you import pieces of a car it is very difficult for customs to tax more than what you tell them it costs. When you import a total assembled vehicle they will tax you on the sticker price you charge. Chrysler can say for instance the panels cost $100 each and the motor/trans. cost $1000 and they would pay on that. If it is all internal and not subcontracted out (purchase from china, etc.) custom tax has a difficult time arguing the actual cost you submit for taxation. Importing the motor would be very cost effective for Chrysler. I will ask an engineer (neighbor) who works on the Promaster diesel prototypes.

 

[carryon]

as long as quality control is actually quality controlled it's not a big deal

 

[Vladamir]

There is always a discussion about the build quality with vehicles being built in other contries. I'd say there shouldn't be any real issues as long as the workers follow the guidelines and the manufacturers keep them in check with quality control like carry on said.

 

[Dwight]

How I see it, it all comes down to how they manage it. If they give the right training, get the right amount of people on board or more, then there shouldn't be a problem.

The factory I was in, was Italian owned. Every bit as good as the US factory producing the same product. Although their safety standards were odd. Long sleeve shirts were required. In the US factory, short sleeve is required. It was hotter than **** in there, so the long sleeve shirt was miserable.

 

[randy]

are all Promasters being built in Mexico or is it sort of an overflow capacity thing? I know Ford builds the Fusion in Flat Rock, Mich. and Hermosillo, Mexico.

Ford did experience issues with Hermosillo QC when rolling out the MKZ back in Jan/Feb '13 so we'll see...