At the beginning of 2024, the ELAM-FAW assembly company announced the relocation of its plant currently located in Hidalgo to Colima territory. Ernesto del Blanco, CEO of ELAM-FAW, told T21 that the new manufacturing center seeks to be a logistics platform that will allow it to meet the demand of the domestic market, but will also have the capacity to export to the markets of Latin America and the United States due to the dynamism of the port of Manzanillo, the most important in Mexico.
Del Blanco explained that with the relocation of the plant there will also be a displacement of the components necessary to assemble the units, since today they are imported to the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, that is, once the Colima plant begins operations the materials They will be sent directly to the port of Manzanillo. This will speed up the logistics of both production and delivery of the units.
“We did an exhaustive analysis of what it meant to move the plant, and above all the logistical advantages that this has. It must be recognized that the Colima authorities have been open and have provided us with the necessary conditions to move the project forward. In terms of logistics, current calculations dictate that we will have significant savings in manufacturing times and in the movement of already assembled units,” stated Del Blanco.
Currently the Hidalgo plant has a production capacity of five thousand units per year, in three shifts, the new plant would have a capacity of 15 thousand units in the same shifts. “In the new location we want to optimize the processes, in addition to having a test track for the units,” commented the manager.
Given this growing production, the CEO of ELAM-FAW reported that it is probably necessary to open another reconditioning center to complement the one that is already operating in the center of the country and that serves all of Latin America.
The manager confirmed to T21 that at the end of the first half of the year, more than 1,200 units had been sold. Although he considers the figures to be positive, a more dynamic behavior is expected during the second half of the year, taking into account that the uncertainty due to the elections has already passed. In this sense, he predicted the placement of 3,200 units by the end of 2024.
The brand has 22 distributors and some more are currently being built in Monterrey, San Luis Potosí, Tlaxcala and Mexico City. “We are already in negotiations to open four more, with this we believe that we can close the year with about 30 distributors in the country,” Del Banco added.
Among ELAM-FAW’s short-term plans is the change in emissions regulations to Euro 6 and preparation for the transition to electromobility, which will initially occur in units dedicated to the last mile.
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