Vehicle production in Mexico increased by 6.13%

MEXICO - Vehicle production in Mexico rose by 6.13% year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2024 to 3.03 million units, consolidating its upward trend for the year, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) reported.

Likewise, exports of light vehicles increased by 7.05% to 2.59 million, while sales in the domestic market rose by 10.53% to almost 1.08 million, according to the autonomous institute's report.

Inegi specified that 76.2% of the vehicles produced were light trucks and the rest automobiles.

The report highlighted a 17.4% year-over-year fall in Audi's production, whose plant in the state of Puebla was on strike from January 24 to February 18 due to a disagreement between unions and employers over a wage increase for 2024.

There were also year-on-year reductions in production at Toyota (-17.6%), BMW (-14.5%), Mercedes Benz (-8.2%) and Stellantis (-7.8%) plants.

In September alone, the production of light vehicles in Mexico soared 11.71% year-on-year to 378,583 units.

Meanwhile, exports in the seventh month of the year rose 4.77% to 315,706 vehicles.

In contrast, domestic sales contracted by 1.45% to 116,543.

"The importance of the automotive industry for Mexico lies in the fact that it represents almost 4% of the national gross domestic product (GDP) and 20.5% of the manufacturing GDP, more than any other sector," according to the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA).

Inegi's information comes from 23 companies affiliated to the AMIA and four other companies.

Mexico's automotive sector recovered its pre-pandemic levels in 2023, when production grew by 14.23% annually, exports by 15.19% and domestic sales by 24.36%.

The Mexican automotive industry rebounded in 2022 with a 9.24% growth in production, after the 2% decrease in 2021 due to the shortage of semiconductor chips and the more than 20% plunge in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced the closure of this industry during the first months of the outbreak.