Second Best March for Mexico LV Sales

Light-vehicle deliveries in Mexico reached a second-best March result of 118,483 units, 16.6% under the month’s prior peak of 136,755 vehicles set in 2017, with an average selling rate of 4,232 units on each of 28 selling days from year-ago’s 27-day average of 5,065.

Mexico car sales had a third-best March hitting 73,211, trailing 19.6% behind 2017’s 87,713 and 5.8% behind 2016’s 74,848. Nissan plummeted 27.3% but still clinched No.1 with a 23.8% market share. Runner-up General Motors fell 16.8% and third-place Volkswagen, 31.8%. Only a handful of automakers posted gains for the month, including Audi (+18.4%), Hyundai (+52.5%), Jaguar Land Rover (+74.5%), and Suzuki (+93.1%).

Light-truck sales fell 11.1% to 45,272 despite marking a second-best March. Nissan dominated the market with a 24.8% share but a 24.9% plunge in sales. Its top-selling light truck, the Frontier, took a 17.2% hit, falling from 7,755 units to 6,666. Sales of the Kicks also dropped, down 33.2% to 1,880. Runner-up Honda accounted for only 11.2% of the market and posted a mere 0.5% gain. JLR soared 210.1% with large sales gains by the Discovery Sport (+188.9%) and Range Rover Sport (+208.1%).

The first quarter left Mexico LV sales 10.8% behind, totaling 336,856 compared with like-2017’s 377,608. No.1 Nissan lagged 16.4% behind year-to-date with 80,709 units. Accounting for a mere 0.1% market share, JLR outpaced last year by 169.7%, up to 383 units compared to year-ago’s 142.

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