Mexico auto production rises 9.9% in January, says Inegi data

Global automakers with assembly plants in Mexico built 333,677 light vehicles during January, according to official data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi). This figure represents a 9.9% increase compared to the 303,755 units built in the same month of 2018, says the Inegi.

 

However, the real auto production figure for January 2019 must be considerably higher, since the Inegi report does not include output data from Mercedes-Benz, which started assembly operations during the third quarter of 2018 at the Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes, a production facility jointly built by Mercedes parent company Daimler and Nissan Group.

Among the automakers whose production work best performed in the first month on 2019 were Volkswagen who saw its output skyrocketing more than double with a 116.4% rise; Toyota with a 41.7% hike; General Motors, which posted a 31.7% increase and Audi, with a 26.3% gain.

Ford and Honda also reported production growth but in a more moderate fashion, of 5.2% and 2.5% respectively.

On the other hand, Mazda saw its production decline 63.4% likely due to a shutdown at its Salamanca plant to perform retooling work in order to build the next generation of Mazda3 sedans.

Other companies with output drop during January were Nissan with a 9.9% decrease; Fiat Chrysler Automobiles with 2.4% and KIA with a marginal dip of 0.4%.

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