Mexico City. President Felipe Calderón declared that it is time for Mexicans to join up to strengthen the country’s economy, which is why his government will continue to seek better conditions so that world class firms, particularly those in the automobile sector, will make Mexico their production base.
“Now is the time to construct a stronger, more competitive economy that will recover its growth and create the jobs we need. We should be quite clear that our mandate today is to join forces to enable our economy to grow, which is why we should focus all our efforts on this,” he said.
During the inauguration of the PAACE Automechanika Show, where collectors’ items were on display, and the closure of the 8th International Congress of the Automobile Industry, the President said that he hoped Mexico could and would spearhead the recovery of this industry.
President Calderón announced the Automobile Renewal program, designed to increase the demand for automobiles in Mexico which has fallen as a result of the world economic crisis. The program will have an initial budget of 500 million pesos, which could be expanded to a billion pesos.
“This is also an opportunity for the automobile and auto-parts in Mexico to use all the advantages it has and maintain and increase its leadership in the world industry in the sector,” he said.
He reported that the owners of vehicles that are ten years or older will be able to obtain a 15,000 pesos subsidy from Federal Government in the purchase of a new one in Mexico costing up to 160,000 pesos.
He said that cars produced in Mexico will be eligible for this program as well as those assembled in countries with which Mexico has Free Trade Agreements and are sold by manufacturers established here.
The President also urged construction firms and distributors in the states to join this effort by Federal Government to multiply the resources in this program and thereby restore internal demand for vehicles in Mexico.
President Calderón also mentioned that the Mexican government has not remained passive under the circumstances and listed the support that has been given to this industry, such as over $30 billion pesos in financing for auto-parts, terminal industry and distributors; the willingness of the financial sector to cope with liquidity for a sum of over $27 billion pesos or the Employment Preservation Program, which has enabled 220,000 automobile workers not to be fired.
“In Mexico, in June, there was not loss of formal employments and on the contrary, we registered 20,000 new jobs in net terms in the country’s economy,” he said.