Ford to Invest $1.3B in Northern Mexico Plant

U.S. carmaker Ford Motor Co will invest $1.3 billion in its stamping and assembly plant in the northern Mexican city of Hermosillo, creating 1,000 jobs, a top company executive said on Friday.

"This investment allows us to produce the all-new Ford Fusion and the Lincoln MKZ line-ups, helping us to meet growing consumer demand," Mark Fields, who is Ford's president for the Americas, said at an event with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City.

Calderon said the investment would help Mexico edge up the list of the world's top auto exporters.

The plant, which opened in 1986, already employs around 2,700 staff, according to the company's Web site.

Ford, the No. 2 U.S. automaker, said in a statement that the new investment comes on top of $3 billion invested in Mexico over the past decade.