Grupo Salinas sold approximately 5,000 units under this program in the first year. But the 2009 economic crisis caused the house of cards to collapse. The company halted the sale of FAW cars, so the factory project was cancelled, the promise of jobs disappeared, and the deal with Speedy ended.
In less than a week, the FAW logos disappeared from the Elektra chain of stores, leaving 5,000 car buyers without parts or workshops that could service the units.
And spare parts?
Erick Sosa was one of the customers who purchased FAW models ten years ago. He, a civil engineer, repaired his models, “but when I saw the shortage of spare parts, I sold my FAWs myself”, he says.
Some neighbours, mostly taxi drivers, who knew that Sosa repaired his own cars, constantly asked him where they could buy the parts. “I saw it as an opportunity,” he says. So he contacted the FAW company in China to get spare parts. “After about 1,000 emails I sent, they got back to me,” he says.
It has started receiving a container from China every three weeks, and although most models have been looted to be sold for parts, Sosa estimates that there are still around 1,000 FAW models rolling in Guerrero, Veracruz, in the State of Mexico and in Mexico City. above all.
Many of their customers use them as “low profile cars”. “We went to repair them in residences on Las Palmas Avenue or in Reforma (CDMX). Customers put 10,000 pesos in a car worth 20,000 and they are happy,” he says. “Even if they fail, no one steals them.”
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