Honda's brand new Mexican Plant - big problems
10-28-2014, 08:18 PM
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Honda's brand new Mexican Plant - big problems
So for anyone that is contemplating getting a newly produced Q5 in 2016 from the mexico plant think again. Honda is having huge problems. Having been in the high tech business and establishing a plant in Mexico I saw this coming. Cultural problems, short cuts, stealing, labor shortage (as well as they just dont show up to work). Audi will run into the same problems Honda and everyone else will have. That labor is cheap for a reason!!!
" The cars are tardy because of massive problems at Honda’s $800-million production site in Celaya, Mexico. The brand-new plant is suffering from quality glitches and component-supply problems. Auto-production expert Ron Harbour, quoted by Automotive News, has said that it is tough to find skilled laborers. Moreover, even transporting parts in and cars out can be a problem, as “railcars do get hijacked” and completed vehicles have had parts stripped from them.
Finding a capable work force won’t get any easier for Honda, as BMW, Audi, and Kia are in the process of building their very own production sites in Mexico right now. As they watch Honda struggle with its new facility, they might need to prepare for similar issues once their lines start churning out product."
" The cars are tardy because of massive problems at Honda’s $800-million production site in Celaya, Mexico. The brand-new plant is suffering from quality glitches and component-supply problems. Auto-production expert Ron Harbour, quoted by Automotive News, has said that it is tough to find skilled laborers. Moreover, even transporting parts in and cars out can be a problem, as “railcars do get hijacked” and completed vehicles have had parts stripped from them.
Finding a capable work force won’t get any easier for Honda, as BMW, Audi, and Kia are in the process of building their very own production sites in Mexico right now. As they watch Honda struggle with its new facility, they might need to prepare for similar issues once their lines start churning out product."
10-29-2014, 12:50 AM
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So for anyone that is contemplating getting a newly produced Q5 in 2016 from the mexico plant think again. Honda is having huge problems. Having been in the high tech business and establishing a plant in Mexico I saw this coming. Cultural problems, short cuts, stealing, labor shortage (as well as they just dont show up to work). Audi will run into the same problems Honda and everyone else will have. That labor is cheap for a reason!!!
" The cars are tardy because of massive problems at Honda’s $800-million production site in Celaya, Mexico. The brand-new plant is suffering from quality glitches and component-supply problems. Auto-production expert Ron Harbour, quoted by Automotive News, has said that it is tough to find skilled laborers. Moreover, even transporting parts in and cars out can be a problem, as “railcars do get hijacked” and completed vehicles have had parts stripped from them.
Finding a capable work force won’t get any easier for Honda, as BMW, Audi, and Kia are in the process of building their very own production sites in Mexico right now. As they watch Honda struggle with its new facility, they might need to prepare for similar issues once their lines start churning out product."
" The cars are tardy because of massive problems at Honda’s $800-million production site in Celaya, Mexico. The brand-new plant is suffering from quality glitches and component-supply problems. Auto-production expert Ron Harbour, quoted by Automotive News, has said that it is tough to find skilled laborers. Moreover, even transporting parts in and cars out can be a problem, as “railcars do get hijacked” and completed vehicles have had parts stripped from them.
Finding a capable work force won’t get any easier for Honda, as BMW, Audi, and Kia are in the process of building their very own production sites in Mexico right now. As they watch Honda struggle with its new facility, they might need to prepare for similar issues once their lines start churning out product."
Get your Q5's while they're still hot off the German production Lines!
10-29-2014, 01:19 AM
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It's so sad to hear this troubling news..... Not to say I wasn't expecting it, quite the opposite actually, but none the less, this news just causes me to think that my 2014 will be the first and possibly the last Q5 I'll probably own, unless Audi allows for production in some cases to be done in Germany or I move to Europe. Lucky Europeans and their German produced Q5s.
10-29-2014, 05:48 AM
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VW's had their Puebla plant for 50 years, apparently. There's always teething pains in any new anything (plant, model/platform, etc.), so just because Honda's having issues doesn't mean that Audi will. The best comparison is VW's Puebla quality, which at least a decade ago was pretty bad, not sure about these days. At least from the reports, Audi's been behaving in a manner that shows that they are certainly cognizant of the need for quality, so I'm at least heartened by that. I would definitely expect bugs to need to be worked out in both the new plant and the new "B9"-based Q5, regardless of whether the final quality settles out to "good" or "bad". Unfortunately it'll take a while before we'll know for sure how the new model that we have access to will be long-term. Realistically I'm not expecting much given VW's quality issues, but you never know.
10-29-2014, 09:46 AM
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So for anyone that is contemplating getting a newly produced Q5 in 2016 from the mexico plant think again. Honda is having huge problems. Having been in the high tech business and establishing a plant in Mexico I saw this coming. Cultural problems, short cuts, stealing, labor shortage (as well as they just dont show up to work). Audi will run into the same problems Honda and everyone else will have. That labor is cheap for a reason!!!
" The cars are tardy because of massive problems at Honda’s $800-million production site in Celaya, Mexico. The brand-new plant is suffering from quality glitches and component-supply problems. Auto-production expert Ron Harbour, quoted by Automotive News, has said that it is tough to find skilled laborers. Moreover, even transporting parts in and cars out can be a problem, as “railcars do get hijacked” and completed vehicles have had parts stripped from them.
Finding a capable work force won’t get any easier for Honda, as BMW, Audi, and Kia are in the process of building their very own production sites in Mexico right now. As they watch Honda struggle with its new facility, they might need to prepare for similar issues once their lines start churning out product."
" The cars are tardy because of massive problems at Honda’s $800-million production site in Celaya, Mexico. The brand-new plant is suffering from quality glitches and component-supply problems. Auto-production expert Ron Harbour, quoted by Automotive News, has said that it is tough to find skilled laborers. Moreover, even transporting parts in and cars out can be a problem, as “railcars do get hijacked” and completed vehicles have had parts stripped from them.
Finding a capable work force won’t get any easier for Honda, as BMW, Audi, and Kia are in the process of building their very own production sites in Mexico right now. As they watch Honda struggle with its new facility, they might need to prepare for similar issues once their lines start churning out product."
10-29-2014, 10:32 AM
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Today's Detroit Bureau story on quality; note specific VW reference...
deep in the story as part of general industry shift back to cost over quality and even safety.
Automakers Still Focus on Cost Over Quality, Suppliers Claim | TheDetroitBureau.com
Layer this on top of shift from Germany to Mexico and full model change, not good. I currently expect if I replaced Q, it would more likely be a Q3 not a Q5. After it gets past its own teething and the motor choices broaden some that is. And yes, Mexico definitely factors in; empty nester as well, so don't necessarily need whatever incremental size delta that results. Puebla was known for second world VW Bugs and Beetles for most of its life--ancient and ridiculously simple designs--and has really struggled it seems with a newer and even moderate complexity platform like later gen. Beetles.
Automakers Still Focus on Cost Over Quality, Suppliers Claim | TheDetroitBureau.com
Layer this on top of shift from Germany to Mexico and full model change, not good. I currently expect if I replaced Q, it would more likely be a Q3 not a Q5. After it gets past its own teething and the motor choices broaden some that is. And yes, Mexico definitely factors in; empty nester as well, so don't necessarily need whatever incremental size delta that results. Puebla was known for second world VW Bugs and Beetles for most of its life--ancient and ridiculously simple designs--and has really struggled it seems with a newer and even moderate complexity platform like later gen. Beetles.
Last edited by MP4.2+6.0; 10-29-2014 at 10:35 AM.
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10-29-2014, 10:33 AM
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10-29-2014, 10:38 AM
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deep in the story as part of general industry shift back to cost over quality and even safety.
Automakers Still Focus on Cost Over Quality, Suppliers Claim | TheDetroitBureau.com
Layer this on top of shift from Germany to Mexico and full model change, not good. I currently expect if I replaced Q, it would more likely be a Q3 not a Q5. After it gets past its own teething and the motor choices broaden some that is. And yes, Mexico definitely factors in; empty nester as well, so don't necessarily need whatever incremental size delta that results. Puebla was known for second world VW Bugs and Beetles for most of its life--ancient and ridiculously simple designs--and has really struggled it seems with a newer and even moderate complexity platform like later gen. Beetles.
Automakers Still Focus on Cost Over Quality, Suppliers Claim | TheDetroitBureau.com
Layer this on top of shift from Germany to Mexico and full model change, not good. I currently expect if I replaced Q, it would more likely be a Q3 not a Q5. After it gets past its own teething and the motor choices broaden some that is. And yes, Mexico definitely factors in; empty nester as well, so don't necessarily need whatever incremental size delta that results. Puebla was known for second world VW Bugs and Beetles for most of its life--ancient and ridiculously simple designs--and has really struggled it seems with a newer and even moderate complexity platform like later gen. Beetles.
10-29-2014, 11:21 AM
#10
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Spain = Eurozone...
and thus inside the (non) tariff area for suppliers and easy parts trans-shipment. Audi motors in general are Hungary, Q7 production also elsewhere in Europe.
Mexico = NAFTA so a different supplier choice dynamic if tariffs are meaningful at the margin. Pretty different flavors on union/non-union and worker council type considerations in crossing continents.
I'm taking about future buy anyway, not current. Thus the comparison to future Q5 buy. Having seen a lot in Europe last summer, even current Q3 looks decent for starters, Tiguan looks homely and blasé to my eye. Q3 also needs to get past a 6 speed along the way from a performance and economy perspective, assuming they/ZF ever get the 8 speed gear change finesse down better. Also a transverse set up, and don't really know where VW/Audi are in the drive train arena on transverse 8 speeds.
Mexico = NAFTA so a different supplier choice dynamic if tariffs are meaningful at the margin. Pretty different flavors on union/non-union and worker council type considerations in crossing continents.
I'm taking about future buy anyway, not current. Thus the comparison to future Q5 buy. Having seen a lot in Europe last summer, even current Q3 looks decent for starters, Tiguan looks homely and blasé to my eye. Q3 also needs to get past a 6 speed along the way from a performance and economy perspective, assuming they/ZF ever get the 8 speed gear change finesse down better. Also a transverse set up, and don't really know where VW/Audi are in the drive train arena on transverse 8 speeds.
Last edited by MP4.2+6.0; 10-29-2014 at 12:17 PM.