Mexico's Tequila Industry

Mexico President Vicente Fox Visits Toyota's Baja California Plant to See Truck Bed Production

When Mexico obtained its independence from Spain in 1821, Spanish wines and liquors faced serious problems reaching the Mexican marketplace.  This gave Tequila the opportunity to increase its sales and spread as the national drink of choice throughout the country.  However, it was the Mexican Revolution of 1910 that marked a new era for Tequila. In the early forties, Tequila finally established a strong domestic market as imports of whiskey came to a halt during WWII.  It also began to conquer foreign markets as it found its way outside of Mexico, reaching unexpected export levels.

The Appellation of Origin
In 1974, the Mexican Government declared Tequila as an "Appellation of Origin".  Later, in 1978, Mexico registered the name at the Registry of Appellations of Origin kept by the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO. Since then, every single bilateral and multilateral trade agreement that Mexico has entered into, including NAFTA, contains a clause granting exclusivity of the name Tequila to Mexico.  The appellation of origin states that Tequila can only be produced in Mexico within a specific region that includes the state of Jalisco in its entirety and specific municipalities

Mexico President Vicente Fox visited Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California (TMMBC) on September 20, 2004 to tour the plant and see the production of truck beds for the Toyota Tacoma, which recently began operations.

The total annual capacity of TMMBC will be 180,000 truck beds and 30,000 Tacoma pickup trucks. Production of Tacoma vehicles will begin in December 2004. The truck beds will be used in production both at TMMBC and New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) - a joint venture of Toyota and General Motors in Fremont, California.

There are currently 586 "asociados" at TMMBC, and total investment in the plant is approximately $140 million. When Tacoma production begins later this year, employment at the plant will be approximately 700.

TMMBC also has an on-site supplier facility that employs 140 people and an additional investment of $6.6 million. The facility will be run by CAMEX, which is a Mexican subsidiary of Toyota Tsusho America, a logistical and service provider to Toyota.

By 2006, Toyota will have the capacity to build 1.66 million cars and trucks and 1.29 million engines annually in North America.

Toyota currently employs more than 36,000 people throughout North America. The company's direct investment is over $15.3 billion. Annual parts, materials, goods and services purchased from North American suppliers total another $25 billion.

Toyota's North American-produced vehicles include the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Sienna, Solara, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra, and the Lexus RX 330.

Website: www.toyota.com

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