Ford Motor Company reported no damage to its Cuautitlán Stamping and Assembly plant just outside Mexico City after a Major, 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked Mexico last Tuesday, September 19th. The quake came on the 32-year anniversary of a catastrophic earthquake in 1985 that killed an estimated 10,000 people, damaging thousands of buildings.
It’s estimated that last week’s quake was responsible for upwards of 300 deaths, with a subsequent 6.2-magnitude quake and an eruption of ash from the Popocatepetl volcano just south of Mexico City causing still more damage.
But Automotive News suggests that Mexico is much more capable of handling natural disasters of such magnitude now than it was 32 years ago, the unscathed status of the country’s auto industry standing as a testament to the modernization of its economy. In the wake of 1985’s massively costly earthquake, the country’s dominant political party was left fragmented, paving the way for a more modern civil society with meaningful building codes, worker protections, and the like.
Beside Cuautitlán Stamping and Assembly, Ford also operates a stamping and assembly plant in the city of Hermosillo, and an engine plant in the Chihuahua state, both of which are reported okay. There have been no reports of serious damages at supplier facilities or dealerships in the country, although some dealers were forced to shutter temporarily, Automotive News reports.
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