For companies evaluating where to locate in North America, Mexico manufacturing is no longer a side option — it is a primary destination. The country sits at the center of the nearshoring shift, and within it, one region keeps surfacing in site-selection decisions. This is an overview of the sectors driving Mexican manufacturing, the investment behind them, and why so much of the activity concentrates in the Bajío.
Mexico’s Manufacturing Landscape
Mexico’s manufacturing strength comes from a combination factories cannot easily replicate elsewhere: proximity to the U.S. market, a defined trade framework under the USMCA, a deep industrial labor pool, and an established base of suppliers. The result is a sector that attracts capital at scale.
The investment data makes the trend concrete. Mexico recorded $34.3 billion in foreign direct investment in the first half of 2025 — its fifth consecutive record year. The physical infrastructure supporting that growth is just as substantial: AMPIP, the national association of private industrial parks, counts more than 460 industrial parks and 4,000 companies operating across 28 states.
That capital does not spread evenly. It concentrates where infrastructure, labor, and logistics are already in place — which is what makes the Bajío region, and Querétaro in particular, central to the story.
Automotive: The Anchor Sector
Automotive is the backbone of Mexican manufacturing, and Querétaro is one of its strongest clusters. Seven automotive OEMs operate in the state, including BMW, GM, Nissan, and Toyota. Behind them sits a dense supplier network: 112 Tier 1 suppliers and more than 200 Tier 2 suppliers.
The scale is significant. The state’s auto-parts sector represents $8.9 billion in value and employs more than 60,000 people. For a manufacturer entering the market, that depth means the supply chain, specialized labor, and support services already exist — a new operation joins a mature ecosystem rather than building one from scratch.
Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing
Beyond automotive, Querétaro has built a nationally recognized aerospace cluster. More than 80 aerospace multinationals operate in the state, including Bombardier, Embraer, Safran, Airbus, and GE, supported by MRO facilities and a dedicated aeronautical university that trains technicians for the companies already on the ground.
The advanced-manufacturing base extends further. Amazon Web Services is developing a $5 billion data-center hub in the state, and active sectors also include logistics, plastics, IT, medical devices, energy, and food processing. The breadth matters for site selectors: it signals an economy that is not dependent on a single industry.
Where Nearshoring Investment Is Concentrating
The Bajío region has absorbed more nearshoring investment over the past five years than any other corridor in Mexico, and Querétaro’s numbers show why it keeps drawing capital.
In 2024, Querétaro attracted $2.8 billion in foreign direct investment, with 75% of it flowing into manufacturing. That more than doubled the state’s 2023 total, which exceeded $1.2 billion and was driven primarily by automotive and aerospace. The trajectory is not a one-year spike — it is an acceleration. Puerta Querétaro’s Market & Labor page details the investment and workforce data behind it.
Querétaro: Mexico’s Manufacturing Core in Focus
What makes Querétaro durable, rather than just busy, is the combination of workforce and logistics underneath the investment numbers.
On workforce: the state hosts more than 1,500 foreign-owned companies across 45 industrial parks, with a median workforce age of 29 and the lowest unemployment rate in Mexico. The talent pipeline runs deep — 104 universities and technical institutions, 39 of them with graduate programs, producing more than 5,100 graduates and 3,700 technicians a year, supported by 53 research and technology centers.
On logistics: from Querétaro, 46% of Mexico’s population sits within four hours by road. The Highway 57 USMCA corridor connects north to the U.S. border at Laredo, CPKCS rail links central Mexico to the border and both coasts, and Querétaro International Airport — the fifth-busiest cargo airport in Mexico — handled more than 2 million passengers and 77,000 tons of cargo in 2024. The Location page breaks down the connectivity in detail.
What This Means for Site Selectors
The throughline across every sector is the same: investment concentrates where infrastructure, labor, and logistics are already in place. For a company evaluating Mexico manufacturing, that points to fully permitted, fully serviced industrial land in the Bajío — not a site where power, water, and permits are still promised.
Puerta Querétaro is built for exactly that demand. The 126-hectare Class A park in El Marqués is fully permitted, with eight blocks developed and a ninth permitted for expansion. Every lot is served by a dedicated 30 MVA substation, independent water and wastewater systems, Engie natural gas, and five fiber optic providers, on land built to LEED standards. Twenty-four companies already operate on site, and the developer brings 30 years of experience in Mexican industrial real estate. The infrastructure is here. The permits are in place.
If you are evaluating where to locate a manufacturing operation in central Mexico, browse available industrial lots and build-to-suit options at Puerta Querétaro, or contact our team to discuss a site in Querétaro.