Audi Breaks Ground On Mexican Plants Says Additional Plants Are In The Works

Audi is making some great strategic decisions now that will benefit the brand immensely going forward. More specifically, being an early adopter of the A-segment globally with the A3 sedan and Q3 SUV along with increasing production capabilities around the world will be a huge benefit.

Yeah, nothing like paying luxury prices for crap made in 3rd world countries. Why don't I just buy a car from China? Is Audi going to fill the trunk with drugs as a promotional offer?

Bad enough BMWs are made in the hick states, now so-called German lux cars are being put together by drug cartels.

LOL!!!

HughJass: how ignorant and stupid comment you made about drugs and "crap cars"; have you asked yourself Why is the americans demand for all kind of drugs driving that market? For your Information, vehicles assembled in Mexico have the same or better quality as those assembled in USA. Labor is not only qualified, but hard working and proud of its work. I have two cars of the same brand, one assembled in Sterling Heigs and the other in the Toluca Mexico plant. As far as can can attest, the older one made in Mexico has better door alignment, better sheetmetal detailing and better sealing of doors and windows. the one made in Sterling Heighs has visible misalignement of the doors in the left side, one of them allowed a small leakage when pressure washing the car, and the small decal stating "Proudly assembled by the UAW" didn't made it even minimally better. If manufacturers are choosing other countries than the USA, there must be a reason or two.

HughJass, Audi is building its plant in Mexico to increase supply of its hugely popular Q5 SUV for the growing U.S. market. Due to the proximity of Mexico to the Unites States, lead times will also be significantly shorter than importing the Q5 all the way from Germany.

As an added benefit, the cost of labor in Mexico is way below the United States and industrialized western European nations such as Germany.

Increasing supply of an in-demand model while greatly reducing lead times and saving on labor costs is a win-win solution.

Hmmm outsourcing the new production plant to mexico to avoid paying american wages/taxes, but intend to sell that product in an american market. If your going going to sell to the US why not give Americans the jobs to make the cars you want us to buy. Mercedes and BMW have done it. So I guess with the money saved on wages and taxes we can expect Q5 prices to come down considerably right?

No, 94geo, the price of the Q5 will stay the same or increase slightly for inflation/small additions to standard equipment.

Audi's profit margin will rise because it will produce the Q5 and sell it for the same or slightly higher price, but the cost of producing the Q5 will drop considerably due to lower labor costs in Mexico compared to the U.S. or Germany and lower import costs since Mexico is a lot closer to the United States than Germany.

As a consumer I would care about audis profit margin why? If I bought an "import" and knew I and had to choose an American assembled or Mexican assebled car. I think the average American consumer with a sliver of patriotism in them would choose the American one without question. Even though most the profit goes to Germany, I could still support domestic labor. At least I know I would.

-94geo: maybe a better way to support "your" country and be patrotic would be by promoting more education inside it. And buying a car assembled in the USA will probably help too little (despreciably little) when 99% of your own companies have been sending 99% of their manufaturing to China, in order to maximize their earnings, sacrificing your workers, infrastructure and prestige along. To really help your country, you'll have to start going to your government and demand them to promote actions against your own companies transforming China into a giant dominating force. Stop complainting when other countries keep progressing. The USA has produced the actual world conditions, not the Chinese or any others.