southern and central parts of the valley. The northern parts of the valley have closer ties to Atlacomulco. The core metropolitan area of Toluca consists of the municipalites of Toluca, Lerma, Metepec, San Mateo Atenco, Ocoyoacac and Zinacantepec. The economic interdependence of these municipalities are most similar to that of the communities in the Mexico City metropolitan area. There are two "outer spheres" of the metropolitan area. The first consists of the municipalities of Almoloya del R�o, Capulhuac, Mexicaltzingo, San Antonio la Isla, Tenango del Valle and Xonacatl�n. The furthest sphere consists of Santiango Tianguistenco, Santa Mar�a Ray�n, Santa Cruz Atizap�n and Chapultepec, M�xico. These spheres are defined not only by geographical distance but also by population growth and rate of urbanization.
Industrial zone
Toluca is located in the economic center of Mexico. Toluca has become an important economic city because of its industries and infrastructure that produce drinks, food, textiles, cars, electric products and such. Since 1944, many industries have settled in Toluca rather than in other cities. In 1965, the industrial zone of Toluca-Lerma-Tianguistenco, which is located on the north side of Toluca, began to attract industries to the area. The city now has five additional major industrial parks: Corredor Industrial Toluca, Parque Industrial Lerma, Parque Industrial Exportec I., Parque Industrial Exportec II and the Parque Industrial El Coecillo.
Chrysler's Toluca Car Assembly has manufactured automobiles since 1968. The 220-acre (0.89 km) complex employs 2300 people. Other companies located here and other of Toluca's industrial parks are BMW, Mercedes Benz, Coca Cola, Femsa, Grupo Bimbo, Nissan, Nestl�, Pfizer, Bayer, Crisa, Barcel, Knorr, Trelleborg Automotive, and HSBC. Mercedes Benz and BMW have complete manufacturing and R&D facilities in the Toluca industrial park. Mercedes-Benz manufactures the C-Class, E-Class,
