The Mexican government’s ProMéxico investment programme will help to create 500,000 new jobs with large automobile manufacturers, reports newspaper El Mañana. 

Emilio Mosso, the co-ordinator of ProMéxico, says the initiative will include job creation from Nissan, General Motors, Volkswagen, Ford and Toyota by 2015.

The industry currently provides jobs for 1m Mexicans or 1% of the country’s population directly or indirectly.

Mosso draws a parallel between the importance of the industry in Mexico and the US, where 3m people, again equating to 1% of the population, are employed directly or indirectly by automotives.

One in five cars sold in the US is made in Mexico, according to El Mañana.