Mexico's non-U.S. bound exports shielding economy

By Jason Lange
REUTERS

9:15 a.m. April 30, 2008

PUEBLA, Mexico – Mexican exporters, long dependent on American consumers, are ramping up sales to once-ignored markets such as Europe and Brazil and are helping shield Mexico's economy from a feared U.S. recession.
Volkswagen's plant in Mexico, built four decades ago just east of the Mexican capital, once focused on selling its Jetta and Golf models to Americans.


But last year, the plant sent more cars to Europe than to the United States for the first time. The company expects Americans to buy less than a third of the automobiles made in the plant in 2008.
“We are in a much better position, considering that there are markets like the United States where demand is falling,â€