Mexico’s Automotive Production Declines in October
The production volume of the country's assembly plants decreased by 3.7% last October, compared to the same month in 2024, totaling 367,870 light vehicles. This is according to the monthly report by Inegi.
Despite being lower than last year's result, the most recent data represents the highest monthly number of cars and trucks assembled so far this year.
With these figures, the cumulative total for the first 10 months of 2025 amounts to 3,389,424 units, or a negative difference of -0.69% compared to the volume for the same period last year.
In terms of exports, the monthly figure was 314,227 units, a drop of -5.45% compared to October 2024, for a total of 2,881,399 light vehicles for the year, or a moderate decline of -1.45%.
Downward trend
Among the automakers that reduced their volume, Honda stands out, with a -24% decrease in production of its HR-V compact crossover. However, when the figures for the luxury Acura ADX version are taken into account, the decline was 11.3%.
Unofficial reports from Japanese media indicate that the plant in Celaya, Guanajuato, suffered stoppages due to a shortage of semiconductors caused by the Chinese government's embargo on the company Nexperia.
However, the Japanese firm only confirmed impacts at its manufacturing sites in Ohio and Ontario.
Another Japanese company that recorded an even steeper decline was Mazda, down 36.9%. With this decline, the company has accumulated a 13.8% drop in production in the first 10 months of the year, compared to the same period in 2024.
Nissan, which will conclude assembly operations at the COMPAS plant in Aguascalientes this month, reported a decline of -17.4%, bringing its total volume for the year to date to a marginal drop of -0.4%.
Although to a lesser extent, Ford also reduced its production in October by -9.5%, largely due to a drastic decline in the Mustang Mach-E, whose volume fell by almost 75%.
The decision appears to be in response to the elimination of tax incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles in the U.S. market at the end of September, which has led to a sharp drop in demand for this type of vehicle.
On the rise
Alongside significant declines in production, there were some double-digit rebounds, as in the cases of Audi, BMW, and Stellantis, which reported increases of 10.2% in the case of the former and 13.7% for the latter two.
However, despite these good results, the three companies' total volumes for the year remain down compared to the same 10 months last year, with declines of -1.9% for Audi, -4% for BMW, and -8.7% for Stellantis.
Another noteworthy case is that of Mercedes-Benz, which increased its production by 28.5% last month. However, the German firm shows a decline of -7.6% in its results from January to October.
Following in the footsteps of Nissan and its Infiniti brand, the company will conclude operations at the COMPAS plant in May 2026.
General Motors also reported positive figures, with a 3% increase in its monthly data, although the Detroit automaker also maintains a slight decline of -0.5% in its cumulative production for 2025.
Toyota also saw its monthly results grow by 4.3%. However, in the case of the Japanese company, the cumulative volume for the year shows a 31.2% increase compared to 2024 figures.
Kia recorded marginal growth of 0.87% in October, while its production for the year remains 7.5% above last year's level.
It is noteworthy that the South Korean company reported the assembly of three more units, apparently prototypes again, of a new variant of the K4 compact, called the K4 Wagon.
Finally, Volkswagen reported flat results for October, while its cumulative production for the year shows a drop of -16.3% compared to the volume for the January-October period in 2024.
