Puebla: The Modern Automotive & Textile Manufacturing Hub

Puebla’s three largest manufacturing sectors are: automotive, textiles, and the fast-growing food and beverage processing industry. In 2017, Puebla registered over $15 billion dollars in exports. Whereas the automotive and textile manufacturing industries in Puebla are geared towards exports, the food and beverage processing industry is focused on national markets.

The automotive manufacturing industry in Puebla is a force for Mexico. Between the period of 2011-2018, over 4 million cars were produced here. The Volkswagen plant in Puebla was opened in 1967 and now employs 8,600 people, making it the largest plant operating in the state. Eighty percent of the vehicles produced in the VW Puebla plant are destined for exportation.

Food and beverage processing include big name companies such as Nestle de Mexico, Grupo Pepsico, Red Bull, Bimbo, The Coca-Cola Company, La Costeña, Soriana and Jugos del Valle.

Since 2014, the US confectionary company, Mondeléz, has invested $133 million dollars to renovate its global infrastructure, including its plant in Puebla which produces powder for beverages for the Latin American market.

Textile manufacturing in Puebla include thread, spinning, knitted items and woven fabrics. Every year, Puebla hosts the internationally attended textile trade show called Exintex, attracting more than 120,000 suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers and purchasers. Over 95% of Puebla’s textile exports are bound for the United States.

Puebla has 21 industrial parks available throughout the state, several being operated by the industrial real estate powerhouses IAMSA and Finsa. Average leasing rates for industrial property during the second quarter of 2015 were $0.30 per square foot, with 786,842 SF of available space.

Puebla has two airports, five airfields and six heliports for cargo and executive travel. Located a mere 66 miles from Mexico City, Puebla is an important hub that connects the capital with seaports in Vera Cruz, going back to its founding by the Spaniards in 1531. The centrally southeast state has 656 miles of railways connecting the state and 7,069 miles of roads connecting Puebla with the rest of the country.

Of historical note, the famous La Constancia Mexicana factory opened in 1835 and was the first and largest textile factories in all of Mexico and Latin America, occupying 52,000 square meters of space before it closed in 1991. The La Constancia Mexicana factory was the first in the country to use water power to drive its machinery.