Thursday, July 17, 2025

Automotive production took a tumble in 2019

Automotive production declined 4.1% in 2019 compared to the previous year, while vehicle exports fell 3.4%, according to official data published on Wednesday.

The national statistics agency Inegi reported that automakers manufactured just over 3.75 million vehicles in Mexico last year, the lowest number since 2016 when 3.46 million units rolled off production lines.

The General Motors strike in the United States between September 15 and October 25 and lower domestic production by Ford due to the changing of equipment at its Mexico plants were among the factors that caused the decline.

Exports fell to 3.33 million cars in 2019, Inegi said, the first annual decline since 2009 although above the 3.25 million units sent abroad in 2017. About 80% of exports went to the United States, the only country to which Mexico sent more vehicles in 2019 than the year before.

Lower global demand for new cars was also reflected in Mexico, where sales declined 7.7% last year to 1.31 million. The figure is the lowest in five years and indicative of a weak Mexican economy that entered a light recession in the first half of 2019.

The automotive production and export figures were even worse in December. Auto output fell 12.7% to 208,073 vehicles and exports slumped 16.7% to 229,227 units.

The signing of a revised version of the new North American free trade agreement last month does, however, provide greater certainty for the Mexican auto industry and could help it recover in 2020.

Source: Reuters (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
two people walkin gby a for rent sign

Can rent control stop gentrification? Mexico City officials plan to find out

2
Political leaders in the nation's capital have reached into their anti-gentrification toolkit and come up with an approach that goes straight to the heart of the problem.
cell phone with Uber

Mexican authorities slam Uber’s price hike: ‘Unilateral and irresponsible’

1
The ride-hailing app insists that the rise is necessary after recent labor reforms gave its drivers full employee rights, including IMSS membership.
The achoque is a critically endangered salamander that’s the cousin of the famous axolotl.

Lake Pátzcuaro’s fishermen answer call to rescue the achoque, the axolotl’s endangered cousin

2
Fishermen in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán, have teamed up with local scientists to raise achoque hatchlings and re-release them into the lake in an effort to stabilize their declining population.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity