While the tight regulations and tariffs for the U.S. market are causing some Chinese automotive manufacturers to rethink their plans to stablish plants in Mexico, GAC Motors officially announced it will assemble cars south of our border, as part of its global One GAC 2.0 strategy.
GAC revealed it plans to start producing new vehicles at a plant in Mexico in the second half of this year.
The Guangzhou, China-based manufacturer revealed its upcoming plant in Mexico has a production start target of the second half of this year.
Also, GAC Motors has officially revealed that its Mexican plant is designed to be flexible to accommodate diverse powertrain types like internal combustion engines, hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fully electric.
What kind of production?
GAC officials mentioned that this will be an assembly plant, but for the time being it’s not being clear whether this will be a full manufacturing operation or if it will operate as a complete knock-down kit facility, where cars are shipped to the plant mostly completed but require minor assembly like mounting the tire-and-wheel kits that are shipped with the vehicle.
Most importantly, GAC Motors has not revealed where its upcoming Mexico plant will be, but it is widely suspected that the Chinese manufacturer will use either the aging CIVAC plant Nissan had in Cuernavaca or the COMPAS plant it had in Aguascalientes as part of a joint venture with Daimler.
The CIVAC plant started producing vehicles in 1966 and at its peak it made 300,000 units annually, but by 2024 it was producing only 80,000 units and by 2025 the numbers had decreased further.
As for the COMPAS plant, it was designed for premium vehicles like Infiniti or Mercedes-Benz and production started in 2017. It was designed for a yearly output of 230,000 units.
GAC has an OEM agreement with Stellantis and as part of such arrangement its vehicles are sold in Mexico as the Dodge Journey SUV and the Dodge Attitude sedan.
Where are they going?
GAC will definitely use its Mexico plant for the local market and though it has not revealed it yet, it is quite certain that it will export vehicles to countries in Central America and now that Canada announced that it will sell a limited number of Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) the new GAC plant in Mexico may accelerate plans of this company´s incursion in our northern neighbor.
GAC has the South American continent squarely on its sights as it will start producing vehicles in Brazil by 2027, in the HPE Automotores plant that currently makes Suzuki and Mitsubishi cars for that South American country.
GAC Motors started selling cars in Mexico in 2024, and it sold 10,000 units in its first two years. The lineup GAC offers in Mexico has gasoline engine vehicles, as well as Hybrid, Plug-In Hybrid and Electric Vehicles. And it sells the GAC, Aion and Hyptec brands.
GAC Motors produces Honda and Toyota vehicles in China and in Mexico has an OEM agreement with Stellantis and as part of such arrangement its vehicles are sold in Mexico as the Dodge Journey SUV and the Dodge Attitude sedan.
What’s the market like?
The Mexican automotive market had a 1.4% growth in 2025 units, with sales of 1,524,638 compared to the 1,504,322 units sold in 2024.
The Mexican automotive market had a 1.4% growth in 2025 units, with sales of 1,524,638 compared to the 1,504,322 units sold in 2024. For 2026, a modest growth in sales is expected.
In 2025, Chinese brands accounted for 9.4% of the Mexican market. However, the actual market share of Chinese vehicles in Mexico may be greater as some of the approximately 40 Chinese brands that already arrived do not report their sales numbers to either the AMIA (Mexican Association for the Automotive Industry) or the INEGI (National Institute of Statistics and Geography).
As a result, it is estimated that approximately 100,000 units sold are not accounted for in the official number of 1,524,638 units sold in Mexico in 2025 provided by the AMIA.
It is worth mentioning that GAC Motors is not the first Chinese automaker to stablish a plant in Mexico, as JAC Motors assembles vehicles in Ciudad Sahagun Hidalgo since 2017.
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