Mexico City — Carmakers in Mexico enjoyed their best March in four years in terms of sales, surpassing those during the period prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, but production remains below those levels.
A total of 346,124 vehicles were produced in the country in March, the best figure since October 2020, and which was 13% higher than in March 2022, but remains 1,3% lower than March 2022, when 350,622 cars were manufactured in the country, according to the country’s statistics bureau INEGI.
Exports, mainly destined for the United States, increased by 3.8% with respect to March 2022, with 272,687 light vehicles shipped to foreign markets during the month.
Meanwhile, new car sales in Mexico totaled 118,801 units, a growth of 24.8% compared to a year earlier and a figure 1.1% higher than that recorded in March 2019.
Nissan, the automaker with the largest share in the Mexican market, increased sales by 35% in March. Growth was 11.5% for General Motors, the second largest by sales in Mexico.
Volkswagen Group recorded a 20% increase.
With the arrival of Covid-19 in Mexico in March 2020, car sales in Mexico plummeted for 12 consecutive months. This phenomenon was compounded by pressures in the supply chains, due to the shortage of chips, which affected the supply of units, in a context of inflation and higher interest rates, which has not gone unnoticed by the sector.
The acquisition of automobiles through credit has declined in Mexico. The purchase of lcars and fleets through financing went from 58.6% in January-February 2022 to 56.2% in the same period of this year, a reduction of 2.4 percentage points, according to a report by the Mexican Association of Automotive Distributors (AMDA), JATO and Urban Science.
Although March’s growth indicates a certain level of recovery, in cumulative terms the recovery has not yet been achieved.
The 315,125 units sold between January and March are still 5% below what was recorded in the first quarter of 2019.