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Amid signs of economic weakness, ranging from higher inflation and a weak peso to lackluster industrial investment and the prospect of fewer exports to the U.S., more Mexican consumers frequented dealer showrooms in January than did so a year ago.
As a result, 123,034 new light vehicles left dealer lots last month, a record that beat the prior January peak of 119,624 a year earlier by 2.9%. Both months had 24 selling days.
Nudging the market to its January benchmark were record new-car sales totaling 80,636 that bested like-2016’s 76,651 units by 6.6%.
Cars accounted for 65.5% of the January LV market, up from 63.2% a year earlier, as light-truck sales slipped 3.6%, to 42,398 from prior-year’s record 43,973 units.
Three of the top six manufacturers reported lower LV sales in January, largely due to slackened light-truck demand.
An exception was market-leader Nissan/Infiniti, which sold 5.5% fewer LVs in January than it did a year earlier, even though its light-truck deliveries increased 10.6%. That gain was more than offset by a 12.8% decline in car sales.
In second place, General Motors’ light-vehicle sales slid 2.9% despite a 4.5% car increase, while third-place Volkswagen/Audi dealers sold 1.2% more LVs even as light-truck volume declined 18.3%.
Fourth-place Honda was down 1.9% with light-truck sales off 18.3%.
Fifth-ranked Fiat Chrysler scored with a 15.1% LV gain in the face of an 18.3% light-truck shortfall, and sixth-place Toyota showed a 4.5% overall increase, including a 4.1% rise in light-truck deliveries.
