Automotive Production Declines Slightly in February

The production of light vehicles registered a decrease of less than one percentage point during February, which suggests that the potential imposition of tariffs by the U.S. government on imports from Mexico has so far not significantly impacted the programs of the automakers operating in the country.

During the second month of the year, 317,178 cars and light trucks were produced, 0.9% lower than the 319,828 units produced in the same period of 2024. The accumulated volume for the first two months of the year was 629,435 vehicles, which represents a minimal increase of 0.4% with respect to last year.

However, exports registered a double-digit drop both in February and in the first two months of the year. According to Inegi data, 258,952 units were shipped abroad during the second month of the year, which implies a 10% decrease, while the bimonthly figure declined 11.4% to 478,366 vehicles.

It is worth noting that the companies' figures show a very uneven performance, which suggests that the decline in both production and exports is due more to inventory adjustments than to any factor that impacts all companies equally, such as protectionist policies in the main market to which these vehicles are targeted.

A clear example of this is Audi, whose third generation of the Q5 SUV was recently launched to the market, so that production volume in the first two months of the year grew by 49.5%, while exports in the same period showed an increase of 151.5%.

Another similar case is that of Toyota, which a year ago began to produce the fourth generation of the Tacoma pickup at a moderate pace. However, once the production program was consolidated, the company reported a 153.6% growth in production and a 207% increase in exports.

There are also cases in which carmakers reported sharp declines, such as Volkswagen, whose production fell by 38.3% while its exports showed a 41.9% decrease. These figures are due to an adjustment in the production of the Tiguan SUV, which recorded a 93.8% drop in production and a 98.7% drop in exports.

Another company that also adjusted its volumes downward was Stellantis, which in the first two months of the year showed a 25% decline in production and a 46% decline in exports.