Hermosillo

Hermosillo is the capital of the state of Sonora, Mexico. It is centrally located within the state at 29°5'N 110°57'W and is within several hundred miles of several other major Mexican cities, such as Tijuana and Mexicali, and U.S. cities such as Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. The city's estimated 2004 population was 689,902. The city is served by Ignacio L. Pesqueira International Airport (airport code HMO). Industry is an important part of the city's economy. 114 companies have plants in the city, employing thousands of workers. Ford Motor Company has a plant there, assembling the Ford Fusion, Lincoln Zephyr (renamed Lincoln MKZ for the 2007 model year) and the Mercury Milan. Expansion of this plant is rumored, since it can now only bulid a maximum of about 300,000 of these cars per year, and some predict that demand will exceed that. This plant had formerly built the Ford Escort, Mercury Tracer, Ford Contour, Mercury Mystique, and other models. It has consitantly been rated as one of Ford's highest quality plants. Continuing this tradition, the Ford Fusion was recently named top of its class in quality and has been described as "the best built Ford sedan ever".