Despite a plant shutdown, Mexico’s auto production marginally increases in August

11 September, 2018

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Last month, global automakers built 369,543 vehicles at their assembly plants in Mexico, the highest figure ever for a month of August, but just 0.4% higher––1,388 units––than the figure recorded in the same month of 2017.

Production volume from January through August was 2,617,330 units, just 0.1%––3,120 vehicles––above the same eight-month period of 2017, according to the latest data of the Mexican Auto Industry Association (AMIA).

The production volume of Mexico has been severely affected by the shutdown of a Honda assembly plant in Celaya, Guanajuato, due to a flood that caused considerable damage to the facility, which will resume operations until next November.

The decline, however, has been partially offset by the new COMPAS plant in Aguascalientes, where Nissan's premium brand, Infiniti, began production of its QX50 SUV at the end of last November.

Having just one of it two plants in Mexico operational, Honda saw its production volume sink 79.4% in August, but it wasn’t the only one. Due to the increase in inventories, other automakers also decided to slow down their production.

Ford reduced its monthly output by 32.3%, Volkswagen by 7.4%, Audi by 7% and Nissan Mexicana by 6%, according to data by AMIA.

On the other hand, those that increased their production were Toyota in 41.2%; General Motors with 32.4%, Kia by 29.1%; Mazda did it at 22.7% and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) by 3.1%.

In terms of exports, AMIA revealed that those increased by 15.4% to 281,805 vehicles in August. Meanwhile, exports in the first eight months of 2018 totaled 1,946,983 units, which represents a 9.1% rise over the same period of 2017.

However, in order to calculate exports, AMIA excluded Nissan’s data from both 2017 and 2018 years, since the Japanese automaker has been reluctant to provide its latest figures.

The AMIA said that negotiations are continuing with the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI, for its acronym in Spanish) and the Bank of Mexico to determine who will be the body that releases the reports of the automotive industry.

MexicoNow

- This is how auto sales ended up in the NAFTA region during August