By Kylie Madry
MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) – General Motors’ Mexico head Francisco Garza foresees just 15% of the vehicles produced in the country in 2030 as being electric, missing the goal given by Mexican officials, he said Wednesday.
“Obviously there are factors that could speed up that adoption,” Garza told Reuters, adding that electric-vehicle (EV) production could reach 30% due to falling costs as production moves to a larger scale, government incentives and expanding availability of charging stations.
GM is already in talks with the Mexican government at local, state and federal levels to boost EV production, Garza said.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and other officials have repeatedly touted that Mexico is on track to meet or even exceed the goal of turning 50% of automotive production electric by 2030.
However, Garza said Wednesday the government’s official goal was to reach 30% of production by 2030. A spokesperson for the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA) told Reuters the goal was between 30% and 50%.
General Motors is already in the process of converting production at its Ramos Arizpe plant, in the state of Coahuila, to electric vehicles and plans to only produce electric cars at all three of its plants in Mexico by 2035, Garza said.
Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who has also given the goal of EVs hitting 50% market share by 2030, has cited California’s mandate to require all new vehicles sold by 2035 to be electric or plug-in hybrid electrics as inspiration.
“The (government’s) commitment has been to issue public policies for vehicle electrification by the first half of next year,” Garza said.
Once the policies are published, Garza said, “We’ll have a better idea of what the real volume that can be sold will be through 2030, and hopefully it will be more than the 15% we’re projecting.”
(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Stephen Coates)
