Ross Perot, wrong on many things, was dead right about NAFTA and its effect on US jobs.
The giant sucking sound continues this morning as the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler announced a €1 billion mega-plant in Mexico to build luxury cars. About 5700 good jobs will be created – engineering, line workers and support staff. Jobs largely based on the US luxury car market.
The new plant will be built close to an already existing Nissan plant, and will have an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles when completely operational. Many of the common platform luxury models – 2017 Infiniti, 2018 Mercedes-Benz – will of course be headed into the U.S. under the job destroying NAFTA deal that allows easy importing and exporting.
Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche said today that their companies would establish a 50:50 joint venture, the business entity that will oversee construction and operation of a new plant in Aguascalientes in north-central Mexico.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
