Vehicle production in Mexico registered an increase of 2.8 percent year-over-year in August, totaling 325,676 vehicles. Although it represents the 16th consecutive annual increase, it's the second-lowest growth rate on record for an August month, reflecting a slowdown in total production led by General Motors, according to a SteelOrbis analysis of data from the national statistics agency Inegi.
Production in August is the fourth time this year that the level of 300,000 units per month has been exceeded. In the last 33 months, only seven times has that level been exceeded. In 2023, it was exceeded in March, May, June and August.
Of the total production, 67.1 percent was contributed by five companies: Nissan (18.4 percent of the total), General Motors (16.5 percent), Stellantis (13.6 percent), Volkswagen (10.8 percent) and Toyota (7.9 percent).
In the international market, the automotive industry in Mexico exported 287,845 vehicles, 15.7 percent more than in August last year, the fifth consecutive annual increase. It stands out that 44 months have accumulated that monthly exports are below 300 thousand units, as averaged in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Five companies contributed 64.4 percent of total exports. General Motors continues to be the leader in exports with 20.1 percent of the total. Volkswagen and Nissan each contributed 12.2 percent, Ford 10.2 percent and Stellantis 9.6 percent.
In August, BMW stood out in exports with an increase of more than 2,000 percent, thus its market share went from 0.2 to 4.3 percent. Nissan also stood out with an increase of 92.3 percent and Honda with an increase of 70.0 percent in their exports.
In the January-August period, production totaled 2.51 million vehicles and exports 2.12 million units, figures that represent annualized increases of 12.3 and 14.0 percent, respectively.