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Chinese SUV and Pickup Assembled in Mexico Then Exported To US

Washington DC June 13, 2007; The AIADA newsletter reported that a Chinese automaker will begin exporting pickups and SUVs to Mexico this year as a springboard to break into the U.S. market.

The SUVs will sell for a little over $12,000 in Mexico and then will be the first Chinese vehicles to sell in U.S. showrooms, said Bill Pollack, chairman of New Jersey-based Chamco Auto.

Automotive News reports that he brokered a deal allowing China's Zhongxing Automobile to export 50,000 vehicles duty-free to Mexico and build a plant in the border city Tijuana to assemble models for export to the U.S.

"Our plan is to average 20 percent below comparably equipped brand-name competitors," said Pollack. China's domestic car industry is heating up and is looking to break into the North American market.

Assembling the Zhongxing vehicles in Tijuana will make them Mexican under NAFTA rules, so they can be exported to the U.S. duty free.

Chamco, Zhongxing's exclusive dealer in North America, expects to sell as many as 20,000 vehicles in Mexico in its first year and have the Tijuana plant supplying U.S. consumers within two years.