Mexico LV Sales Hit August Record

Mexican light-vehicle sales once again achieved benchmark status in August, thanks to the record number buyers that left dealer lots with new cars during the month.

August LV deliveries totaled 111,952 units, or 4,306 on each of 26 selling days, a 12.1% gain ON the 27-day, 3,842-unit daily rate in August 2014, when 103,753 vehicles were sold.

Car sales alone rose to an all-time high for the month of 75,705 units, a 16.5% jump on like-2014’s then-record 67,481 deliveries, despite one less selling day this year.

Unlike their counterparts in Canada and the U.S., Mexican consumers are less likely to buy light trucks for strictly personal use, thus August’s light-truck volume narrowly missed prior-year’s performance, 36,247 units to 36,272, even though the daily selling rate improved 3.8% as economic activity showed signs of strengthening.

However, neither month came close to matching the August light-truck sales record of 38,017 set in 2008.

LV sales in the first eight months reached a period-record of 832,522 units, a 19.0% gain on the 699,513 sold in the same period a year earlier, and 18.3% ahead of the prior January-August peak of 703,423 deliveries in 2006.

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