North America Production Down 8.5% in August

Automakers in North America built 1,533,951 light vehicles in August, falling 8.5% below 2016’s August record of 1,675,787.

U.S. production tumbled 13.2% to 980,918 LVs, the lowest August total since 2013. The pullback was likely an effort to relieve bloated inventories after 8-straight months of disappointing sales.  

Kia’s output dropped 15.8% to 30,308 units, Honda was down 6.0% to 115,274, and Nissan shrank 9.0% to 87,326. BMW’s tally fell 33.5% to 26,434 as production of the X5 and X6 was still ramping up after being closed for retooling in July.

Volkswagen was a rare bright spot, soaring an estimated 58.6% above year-ago to 14,567 units due to ramped up Atlas production from the Chattanooga, TN plant.

Ford also boosted production in the U.S., rising 2.4% to 211,813 LVs with gains from both car and light-truck models. Focus output increased 36.8% to 15,836 and F-Series builds improved 16.8% to 97,254 (including medium-duty trucks). The Lincoln MKC soared 17.4% to 5,606 units, while Navigator production all but stopped as a result of a model changeover.

Year-to-date, light-vehicle production in the U.S. fell 7.1% from same-period 2016 to 7,427,142 units.

Production was slow in Canada, as well, decreasing 9.0% from August 2016 to 195,262 builds. Ford output fell 3.7% to 23,446 units and Toyota was down 9.1% to 48,901. Honda inched up 1.0% to 36,279, thanks to boosted CR-V production balancing lower Civic numbers.

Canada’s 8-month tally fell 4.4% behind like-2016 to 1,516,246 builds.

Plants in Mexico continued to turn out record numbers, rising 8.0% to an August-best 357,771 LVs. Light-truck builds accounted for much of the growth, climbing 38.7% to 183,220 units. Meanwhile, car production tumbled 12.4% to 174,551 despite Honda (+232.8%) and Kia’s (+35.1%) soaring totals.

FCA boosted production 61.2% to 59,898 units, 98% of which were light trucks. Kia soared 35.1% to 22,300 builds and Volkswagen improved 36.8% with 57,945.

Mexico’s total through August outpaced like-2016 by 13.7% with 2,587,974 LVs.

In the region overall, Large Car (+7.3%), Pickup (+1.3%) and Van (3.4%) were the only segments to improve over August 2016. Small Car was down 14.6% and SUV slowed 6.4%. Middle car fell the furthest, shrinking 26.4% to 182,300 units and dropping from 14.8% to 11.9% share of the region.

Through August, North America production reached 11,531,362 slipping 2.8% below same-period 2016.

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