Mexico was once again the world’s seventh largest vehicle manufacturer in 2023, while its annual production growth was the third highest among the top 10, according to data from an international industry group.

Statistics published by the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA) show that vehicle production in Mexico increased 14% in annual terms to just over 4 million in 2023.

Mexico produced just under 3.1 million commercial vehicles and just over 900,000 cars, according to the OICA data, making it the world’s seventh largest vehicle manufacturer for a fourth consecutive year.

In 2023, Mexico ranked behind China, the United States, Japan, India, South Korea and Germany in terms of total output. Spain, Brazil and Thailand rounded out the top 10.

Germany, where 4.11 million vehicles were made last year, and South Korea, which had a total output of 4.24 million units, were only narrowly ahead of Mexico.

Only Germany and Japan recorded larger annual production growth than Mexico among the world’s top 10 vehicle manufacturers. Output increased 18% in Germany in 2023 and 15% in Japan.

Automakers from both those countries as well as the United States and South Korea have plants in Mexico, and several of them have plans to expand their operations here.

Chinese companies such as BYD and Jaecoo intend to establish a manufacturing presence here soon.

OICA data also shows that a total of 93.54 million vehicles were made around the world last year, a 10% increase compared to 2022 and a 1.5% uptick compared to 2019.

Almost one-third of those vehicles were manufactured in China, which had a total output of 30.16 million units last year including 26.1 million cars.

With reports from El Economista