Among the dry, scrub-covered hills outside the Mexican town of San Jose Chiapa, a plot of land the size of 45 football fields will soon give Volkswagen Group a boost in its effort to become the world’s biggest automaker.
There, executives from VW’s Audi luxury unit on Saturday broke ground on a $1.3 billion factory with a capacity of some 150,000 cars a year. The plant will be instrumental in Audi’s push to topple BMW Group as the world’s No. 1-selling premium automaker.
Not long ago, a black stretch version of the Audi A6 was the unofficial ride of choice for Chinese government bureaucrats.
Even today, rows of the cars are visible outside Shanghai’s municipal training school, where the officials receive instruction and attend meetings.
The American demand for auto technicians is expected to grow about 17 percent from 2010 to 2020, the American Automobile Association (AAA) reports.
As auto financing continues to accelerate so are investigations into the practices of the industry’s lenders and the add-on products they offer on new and used vehicles to boost profits, such as extended warranties.
General Motors subsidiary Opel/Vauxhall says new powertrains will cut its average CO2 output 27 percent by 2020, helping the automaker comply with tougher EU emissions regulations.
