Californians Buying Mexican Gas May Face Hidden Costs

The irascible blogger WC Varones yesterday reported on a story about San Diego residents driving to Mexico to fuel up, taking advantage of federale-subsidized prices.

W.C. Varones Blog: Beggar nation

Americans crossing the border to buy subsidized gas in Mexico:

A surge of drivers from the United States eager to escape record high gasoline prices flooded gas stations near the border crossing Saturday.
Motorists with California plates moved steadily through service stations. [...]
Lopez estimated that demand was up 30 percent from an ordinary weekend.
Workers at the stations surveyed attributed the increase to motorists from the United States.
Mexican gasoline comes from Pemex, the national oil company, and is subsidized by the federal government.Regular unleaded (87 octane) gasoline sells for $2.54 per gallon in the city, premium (91 octane) for $3.20 per gallon and diesel for $2.20 per gallon.

But is it such a good deal in the long run?

I asked some friends of mine from San Diego, and their responses were completely negative. One told me "You don't want Pemex. By the time it's trickled through the different levels of corruption five different politicians all have tanks full of pure and pockets lined with pesos and the fuel is about 10 percent water. Even the high-octane option'll make your car rattle and stink and run like shit."

Another friend said simply "I absolutely ruined an engine in a jeep on that trash."

Bear in mind that the plural of anecdote is not "data" but their response bears consideration.

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Sharp opens North American plant

In the same week that Toshiba announced their new LCD plant in Poland, Sharp has officially opened a new factory in Mexico.

TWICE: Sharp Christens First North American Panel Plant

Sharp Corp. officially opened the industry’s first LCD panel plant in North America yesterday, which will dramatically reduce lead times and increase production capacity for the U.S. market, the company said.
The five-month-old facility, located in Baja California, sits adjacent to Sharp’s
original Mexican TV plant, which began making tube sets ten years ago. But unlikeits forerunner, which now assembles LCD TVs from sea-shipped components, the new integrated plant is building finished TVs with LCD panels produced on-site from glass substrate flown in from Kameyama, Japan.

The Baja plant is an assembly plant, which will still reduce the logistical costs of marketing LCD TVs. For those of you in retail, don't be surprised at the knee-jerk reaction from some clients when they find out that their TV is no longer "Made in Japan." They'll get over it.

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