US auto companies respond to Trump

Many automakers plan to use this week's North American International Auto show in Detroit to tout investments in the United States and a commitment to US employment against the backdrop of President-elect Donald Trump's criticism of automakers for shipping vehicles into the US from Mexico.

Auto industry executives gathered for the annual auto show in a climate of growing uncertainty about the trade and regulatory policies the new Republican administration will pursue.

Trump, who will be inaugurated on Jan 20, has talked about rolling back environmental regulations, and supporting corporate tax cuts, moves automakers would welcome.

He has also warned that he will move to raise the costs of importing vehicles from Mexico, a policy industry executives said could hurt their businesses.

Most of the major automakers in the US have substantial vehicle making operations in Mexico, as well as complex networks of parts makers that supply their factories in the US and support jobs and investment in states such as Ohio and Michigan.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles(FCA) said on Sunday that it will invest $1 billion to modernize two plants in the US Midwest and create 2,000 jobs.

FCA's investment decisions were not related to Trump's recent attacks on Ford Motor Co, GM and Toyota Motor Corp for building cars for the U.S. market in Mexico, people familiar with company's moves said on Sunday.

Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche on Sunday said during an auto show event that the German automaker plans to invest another $1.3 billion to expand sport utility vehicle (SUV) production at a factory in Alabama.

HinrichWoebcken, chief executive of the North America Region for German automaker Volkswagen AG told Reuters on Sunday the automaker plans to invest $7 billion in the United States between 2015 and 2019 and will start building its new Atlas SUV in Tennessee later this year.

Volkswagen has had a plant in Mexico for 50 years and it is not shifting any jobs to Mexico from the United States.

"We do not make our investment decisions based on administrative cycles. Our business is really an 8-, 12-, 14-year horizon when we look at investments," Woebcken said on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show.

General Motors Co CEO Mary Barra on Sunday said tax reform and "streamlining regulations ... are just two areas that would be extremely beneficial" for Trump to address. Trump has criticized GM for building cars in Mexico while laying off workers in the United States.

Barra, who is on an advisory committee to Trump, told reporters that decisions about where to build specific vehicles are made "two, three four years ago". Overall, she said of Trump, "We have much more in common than we have different".