Mexico Plans To Manufacture Low-Cost Electric Vehicles By Olinia – CleanTechnica

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When the opening game of the 2026 World Cup kicks off in Mexico City on June 11, 2026, Mexico plans to present a domestically manufactured electric vehicle from Olinia to the millions of people who will be following the tournament. Maybe the thought of yet another EV manufacturer doesn’t grab your attention, but perhaps this will: Olinia is expected to announce on that date a lineup of three electric vehicles priced between 90,000 and 150,000 pesos. In case you are not up on international exchange rates today, that translates to between $4,400 and $7,400. What?! That’s insane. You can’t build cars that cheaply, can you?

Mexico thinks it can and is determined to prove it. After the first model is announced in June of 2026, production is scheduled to begin later that same year. But there won’t be just one central factory. Olinia will have several regional factories to promote local industries and supply chains. Politically, the project is at the very top of the government’s priority list. Olinia, which according to Mexican media means “movement” in the indigenous Náhuatl language, was personally presented by President Claudia Sheinbaum. “This small car must be safe, electric, able to be connected to any outlet and have most of its components be Mexican, so little by little we will build this production chain.”

Olinia — A Public/Private Partnership

The plan is for the government to initiate the project. Once production is started, private companies will drive the Olinia brand forward. “The idea is that the government supports the Secretariat to generate this design, and then when it comes to building the vehicles, the parts can be built in different places and assembled in different places,” the president said in a press release. The “Secretariat” refers to the recently created Secretariat for Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation, established as a new ministry under Sheinbaum. The aim is to keep transport costs low. It remains to be seen whether the lack of economies of scale with lower unit numbers per location will eat up the advantages in transport costs.

According to Mexico Now, one of the production plants will be located in the northwestern state of Sonora. The president also mentioned Sonora but did not directly confirm that a factory would be built there. “Because taking a car from Sonora to Yucatan is expensive and would increase the cost of the vehicle, if we can have an assembly plant in Yucatan and one in Sonora, it would be very good to have regional assembly plants that allow us to provide the vehicle at a lower cost,” said Sheinbaum.

The government has selected the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) and the National Technological Institute of Mexico (TecNM) to develop the mini-vehicle technology and has allocated a sum of 25 million pesos for 2025 — the equivalent of around $1.2 million. That strikes some observers as an impossibly small amount of money to get a new car company off the ground. There is little information about how exactly the government plans to do what it is promising. IPN general director Arturo Reyes Sandoval said that in addition to working on the design and development proposal for the vehicle, the IPN will contribute to laying the foundations for an ecosystem favorable to the development of electric vehicles in the country, and to this end, a market analysis and a business plan will be prepared in parallel, as well as a preliminary project for plants or a light vehicle plant in Mexico, through the Tecnópoli Intelligence and Prospective Directorate of the IPN’s Secretariat for Innovation and Social Integration.

Three Models

The three models mentioned are not intended to be fully fledged small cars but rather light electric vehicles. Although precise specifications are lacking, these vehicles would most likely to be classed as L7e in Europe. According to Wikipedia, L7e is a European Union vehicle category for four-wheeled microcars or quadricycles like the Renault Twizy and the Citröen Ami. The designation allows these vehicles to be designed to less stringent requirements compared to regular cars.

Two models are either three- or five-door mini-vehicles for young people and families living in urban areas. They will share a basic design concept. The third model is intended as a small delivery van for last-mile logistics. All three vehicles will be built on a common multi-purpose platform. The chassis, engine, and battery are to be identical in each case. However, the renderings that Sheinbaum showed during the press conference are intended to be more illustrative and do not provide an immediate preview of the actual products.

Priced at a maximum of 150,000 pesos, the vehicles would be significantly more affordable than electric cars currently available in Mexico. According to Mexico News Daily, vehicles from JAC, Renault, and BYD currently start at around 350,000 pesos, or just over $17,000. It is expected the operating costs and carbon footprints of the Olinia vehicles will be lower than any other cars sold in Mexico as well.

The Mexican government is also focusing on road safety. Although electric micro-vehicles have had safety issues so far, Olinia’s electric vehicles will be established as an alternative to motorbikes. ‘“Motorcycles are popular, but also risky,” said Sheinbaum. ‘Traffic accidents involving them have risen considerably […] so, this small vehicle must have the following characteristics: safe, electric, and primarily made in Mexico.”

EVs In Mexico

Automakers such as General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz already manufacture electric cars in Mexico. The Ford Mustang Mach-E is exported from Mexico to countries around the world. GM imports the Chevrolet Equinox EV and Blazer EV to the US, and Audi is relocating production of the Q8 e-tron from Brussels to San José Chiappa. In theory, Tesla is building a new factory in the state of Nuevo Leon, but that project is currently on hold. Chinese automakers such as BYD are bringing electric cars to Mexico, but none sell for as little as the cars from Olinia.

Some readers may be snickering up their sleeves at the idea of these little crackerbox cars, but may not be familiar with similar vehicles from European manufacturers in the late ’40s and early ’50s. Cars like the original Fiat 500, Citroen 2CV, Isetta, Messerschmitt, Mini, and NSU were quite popular in the post-war era and were all many Europeans could afford. The lowly Isetta started life with a puny 236 cc engine, but it got 80 mpg at a time when gasoline was in short supply. Don’t dismiss the Olinia initiative. The first Toyotas and Hondas were only a small step up from quadricycles. These microcars may find a ready audience in Mexico — and beyond.