GM Will Use Wind Energy In Mexico

gas2.org

 

 

General Motors has signed a long term agreement with Enel Green Power, which is developing and constructing a massive wind farm in Palo Alto, Mexico near GM’s Toluca manufacturing complex. The company will buy 34 megawatts of wind energy from Enel — equivalent to the power produced by 17 wind turbines. 75% of the electricity will go to power the company’s Toluca complex. The rest will go to other facilities nearby. With the cost of electricity in Mexico about 1/3 higher than it is in the US, GM wants to be energy independent in its Mexican operations as soon as possible.

 

“Our commitment to sustainable manufacturing processes is one way we serve and improve the communities in which we work and live,” said Jim DeLuca, GM executive vice president of Global Manufacturing. “Using more renewable energy to power our plants helps us reduce costs, minimize risk and leave a smaller carbon footprint.”

 

According to Forbes, when the wind farm is complete, renewable energy will account for about 12% of GM’s total energy usage in North America or 104 megawatts. GM’s goal is to more than double that to 225 megawatts by the year 2025. The company also uses solar, landfill-to-gas, and waste-to-energy technologies.

 

“Mexico is an ideal location for our first wind project,” said Rob Threlkeld, GM global manager of renewable energy said in a press release. “Energy is fed to a national grid, making it easier to reduce or add energy capacity at a facility. There’s also a good business case as prices for traditional power are about a third greater than the United States. Once online, we’ll evaluate the project to better understand how we can expand the use of wind power.”

 

GM is founding member of the Business Renewables Center, a collaboration of major corporations looking to pursue more sustainable business practices and organized by the Rocky Mountain Institute. Other participants include EBay and Hewlett Packard.

 

GM to invest $350mn in Ramos Arizpe

 

Coahuila plant built 173,000 vehicles last year.vanguardia

News

 

Mexico News Daily | Monday, March 23, 2015

mexiconewsdaily.com

   

In automotive news this week, Toyota is back in the spotlight though with nothing concrete, and General Motors is too, though with nothing completely new.

GM announced in December it would invest US $3.6 billion in Mexico over four years. Today it revealed that $350 million of that will be spent on preparing its plant in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, to build a new generation of the Chevrolet Cruze.

 

The plant has already churned out more than 3.4 million units of that model since it was launched in 2008.

In a prepared statement, the firm’s president and general manager in Mexico, Ernesto Hernández, noted that Mexico is the seventh largest producer of GM vehicles at 7% of global production.
The Ramos Arizpe plant opened in 1981 and built 173,400 units last year, 25% of the firm’s production in Mexico. It has become a key element of the automotive industry in the region, said plant manager Héctor de Hoyos, contributing 21% of the Gross Domestic Product of the state of Coahuila.

Ramos Arizpe has also produced the Century, Cutlass, Chevrolet HHR and the Chevy.

GM announced earlier this month an $87 million investment in its factory in San Luis Potosí to add two new stamping presses.

Toyota Motor Corp., meanwhile, is — once again — said to be finalizing plans for its first passenger car assembly plant in Mexico. Its board could approve the plant within weeks, according to several speculative reports, which give the location as Guanajuato.

Rumors in September of expansion into Mexico were scotched shortly after but surfaced again in January.

Sources: El Economista (sp)
 

- See more at: http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/gm-invest-350mn-ramos-arizpe/#sthash.LBjPcIry.dpuf

General Motors announces $3.6 bn investment in Mexico

latino.foxnews.com

Published December 11, 2014

 

EFE

U.S. auto giant General Motors on Thursday announced $3.6 billion in investment to be made in Mexico through 2018, with the funds destined mainly for modernizing and expanding the firm's manufacturing plants in the cities of Toluca, Ramos Arizpe, Silao and San Luis Potosi.

At a ceremony at the Los Pinos presidential residence, the president of General Motors' affiliate in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, Ernesto M. Hernandez, said he was confident that "the necessary economic conditions exist for these investments to translate into the creation of up to 5,600 new jobs."

According to the GM Mexico chief, that will also create almost 40,000 additional jobs in related industries.

With Enrique Peña Nieto in attendance, the GM Mexico official said that the investment package will improve the firm's production capabilities, especially in the areas of manufacturing, motors and transmissions and vehicle assembly.

In addition, it will contribute to the production in Mexico of new vehicles for the local market and for export, something that will consolidate GM as the country's No. 1 vehicle exporter, he said.

Peña Nieto, meanwhile, said that between January and November 2013, vehicle production in Mexico exceeded 3 million units, an increase of 8.7 percent over the same period last year.

The president said that GM's investment will "put its plants in the front rank" of the industry ... and "without a doubt, these investments will contribute to pushing even more the successful automotive development our country is experiencing."

With a 79-year presence in the Mexican market, GM operates four manufacturing complexes in the country, directly creating about 15,000 jobs and indirectly creating more than 105,000 in the supply chain and related industries. EFE

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