Rolando Alaniz Rosales, president of the Automotive Cluster of Guanajuato (CLAUGTO), said that there will continue to be investments in the sector in the state despite the lack of chips and that the industry will grow in auto parts exports, since for every 2 dollars exported for automotive parts, 1 dollar is for automobiles, so growth will be focused on this area.
"We have to remember that for every 2 dollars we export of auto parts, we export 1 dollar of assembled cars; the auto parts sector is twice as important in terms of exports as the assembly sector, being from there we are going to see what the statistics are on the auto parts issue in the state of Guanajuato," he said.
Alaniz Rosales highlighted that Guanajuato had a 20 percent growth in exports, since from 16 billion dollars exported during 2020 between automobiles and auto parts, in 2021 it increased to 19 billion dollars, something extremely important for the state.
He explained that Guanajuato is having an enormous opportunity to be attractive in investments, due to its productivity and the fact that the 7 assembly plants that are installed in the state, such as General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Toyota, Hino, Ford and Volkswagen, are among the most profitable in the world, something that reflects confidence and therefore foreign investment during 2022.
He explained that Guanajuato is having an enormous opportunity to be attractive in investments, due to its productivity and the fact that the 7 assembly plants that are installed in the state, such as General Motors, Honda, Mazda, Toyota, Hino, Ford and Volkswagen, are among the most profitable in the world, something that reflects confidence and therefore foreign investment during 2022.
"Here in Guanajuato our reality is different, because exports increased in auto parts and cars by 20 percent, from 16 billion dollars in 2020, we went to more than 19 billion dollars, that is what happened if we compare 2020 with 2021, it is 20 percent growth what the sector had," he commented.
Although Guanajuato has been growing in the automotive industry in exports, the president of CLAUGTO said that they cannot celebrate, since other entities in the country are going through complicated times due to the lack of chips, which has also lowered productivity in the entity.
"What Guanajuato is having is an enormous opportunity where we cannot celebrate evidently, because we cannot rejoice that other entities are having a bad time, because that is reflected in terms of jobs and the economy of families," he mentioned.
The affectations in the automotive industry in the face of the lack of chips at a global level has been very great at a national level, since the production of automobiles fell from 4 million in 2020 to 3 million in 2021, so that exports at a national level grew barely 0.98 percent, due to car units.
"At a national level it fell from 4 million close to 3 million 900 thousand cars to 2 million 900, that is to say from 4 million we dropped to 3 million cars, yes it is true, it is also true that exports of just cars compared 2020 with 2021, grew just 0.98 percent in car units," he explained.
As for car production at state level in 2021 grew 6 percent and auto parts production increased 7.3 percent, compared to 2020, so the investment plans are aimed at the sector that had the greatest increase in the last period.
Rolando Alaniz acknowledged that the lack of chips is a gigantic problem for the automotive industry, however he is aware that the solution is already in process by the United States, a country that allocated up to 50 billion dollars in the improvement of logistics infrastructure to improve the transportation of goods.
"Economies are regional and we belong to an economy where the United States represents 87 percent of Guanajuato's exports and the United States is already investing amounts above 50 billion dollars in solving this problem," he stressed.
Finally, he ruled out that Guanajuato is planning to solve the lack of chips by bringing in a company capable of producing them, since it does not have the necessary conditions to create such sophisticated technology; however, it does have planned actions for legal and labor certainty, which will allow the state to be attractive in terms of investment and to grow in terms of jobs, economy and development.
