[LINK] "Carmakers say adios to Canada as Mexico shifts into higher gear"

[rfmcdonald]

CBC's Pete Evans describes the growth of the Mexican manufacturing sector even as Canada's struggles.

There's little more than a weeded-over parking lot outside the former Freightliner truck factory in St. Thomas, a small town about a 30-minute drive south of London, Ont.

Not long ago, the site was a hive of busy autoworkers. But in 2008, German automaker Daimler closed the shop and moved production offshore, part of a $600-million cost-cutting plan that saw 1,400 people thrown out of work. A plumbing component maker has since taken over part of the old Freightliner space, but together with the shuttering of the nearby Ford plant and its 1,600 jobs, St. Thomas's days as a major hub of Canada's automotive industry are over as carmakers move production to greener pastures elsewhere.\

More often than not of late, the elsewhere in question is Monterrey, the third-largest city in Mexico. About an hour-and-a-half flight from Houston, it's fast becoming a hub of global car manufacturing.

New Freightliner transport trucks roll out of there three at a time nowadays, made by Mexican shop floor workers who work for as little as one-fifth of what a Canadian made doing the same work.

The fact is, Mexico now makes twice as many cars as it did a decade ago, and has leapfrogged Canada in the process.