Mexico Sees 2014 LV Sales Record

Mexico dealers rolled a record number of new light vehicles off their lots in 2014, although neither cars nor light trucks achieved any new benchmarks.

Consumers took home 1,133,757 LVs in 2014, 6.8% more than the prior year’s 1,061,728 deliveries and edged past the 1,132,783 units tallied in 2006 to establish the new all-time high.

Car sales were a second-best 732,809 units, beating 2013’s 685,920 by 6.8%, and falling just 0.6% short of matching the record 736,952 cars delivered in 2004.

While buyers also snapped up 6.7% more light trucks in 2014 compared with the prior year, 400,948 vs. 375,808, that only was enough for a fifth-place finish, trailing 467,105 sold in 2006 by 4.5%.

December saw dealers wrap up the year with a strong, if not record, performance, delivering 133,021 units, a 7.3% improvement on like-2013.

While the December tally also outpaced the record-November volume of 111.485 by 14.7%, it wasn’t strong enough to unseat the record 146,198 LVs sold in same month in 2005.

Although General Motors saw a 7.6% sales gain in 2014, combined deliveries for the Detroit Three were off 0.3% compared with 2013, while European brands rose 3.4% and Asian makes were up 14.6%.

Nissan was again Mexico’s best-selling brand with a 25.7% LV market share in 2014, up from 24.9% the prior year, with Chevrolet running second at 18.2% in both years.

Volkswagen ranked third with a 16.0% share, down slightly from 16.7% in 2013.

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