Trump announced tariffs on major trading partners, including Mexico. Many automakers like Honda, Nissan, and Toyota have plants in Mexico. These companies export a large portion of their Mexican production to the US. Other companies like Foxconn and Lenovo also have significant operations in Mexico. Some companies are considering their options in response to the potential tariffs.
ASIAN AUTOMAKERS
Honda Motor sends 80% of its production in Mexico to the U.S. market and its chief operating officer Shinji Aoyama warned earlier this month if the U.S. were to impose permanent tariffs on vehicles imported from Mexico, it would have to think about shifting production.
Nissan Motor has two plants in Mexico where it makes the Sentra, Versa and Kicks models for the U.S. market. It produced nearly 505,000 vehicles in Mexico in the first nine months of this year. The company does not disclose how many of those were exported to the U.S. market.
Toyota Motor has a smaller footprint in Mexico, making its Tacoma pick-up truck at two plants there.
It sold more than 230,000 of the Tacoma in the U.S. last year, representing about 10% of its total sales in that market. Toyota used to produce the Tacoma in the U.S., but now ships all of them from Mexico, where the vehicle is the only model it makes in its plants. Most of the production there is for exports to the U.S.
Mazda exported around 120,000 vehicles from Mexico to the United States last year.Mazda President Masahiro Moro said earlier this month the tariff issue is “not a problem that can be solved by individual companies,” and it would carefully examine the details before deciding its response.
South Korea’s Kia Corp has a factory in Mexico that makes its own vehicles and a small number of Santa Fe SUVs for its affiliate Hyundai Motor for U.S. exports.
TESLA SUPPLIERS
Tesla encouraged its Chinese suppliers to set up plants in Mexico in 2023 to mainly supply to the U.S. automaker’s planned Gigafactory in Mexico.
Tesla originally planned to start production in Mexico in early 2025 but has largely walked away from that goal and shifted to an expansion plan with its Texas plant.
CHINESE AUTOMAKERS AND SUPPLIERS
Some Chinese car component makers such as seat maker Yanfeng Automotive Interiors have been producing in Mexico for years to supply to automakers including General Motors and Toyota, which had relocated their capacity to Mexico for lower costs.
Chinese top EV maker BYD has been scouting for locations to build a plant in Mexico but has said repeatedly that the factory will serve the domestic market and not produce cars to be sold in the U.S.
JAC Motors has since 2017 had a joint venture in Mexico with Giant Motors to assemble JAC brand vehicles. SAIC-owned MG in August announced plans to build a plant in the country.
FOXCONN
The world’s biggest electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn is building a giant artificial intelligence server factory in collaboration with Nvidia in Mexico. It plans to start production early next year, making a liquid-cooled server containing Nvidia’s new and powerful Blackwell family of AI chips.
LENOVO
Chinese computer maker Lenovo has a massive production site in Monterrey that it expanded in 2021. It manufactures servers and other data center products there and the company said in 2021 that all of its data center products for the North American market are produced in Monterrey.
LG ELECTRONICS
South Korea’s LG Electronics makes TVs, home appliances and electric vehicle parts in its Mexico production sites.
It said on Tuesday it is reviewing various possibilities including changes in trade policies.
