North America Q1 2013 Output Edges Up

North American auto makers, with Ford still mulling changes, nudge up the first-quarter production slate by a modest 12,500 units in their most recent round of scheduling meetings, from where it stood a month ago.

The industry now is set to build 4,015,400 vehicles in the January-March period, at first blush some 24,500 fewer units than the previous 4,039,900 tally in which Toyota's Canadian production plans were overstated.

Based on the now-adjusted Toyota figures, the prior Q1 2013 volume would have been 4,002,900 units, leading to this month’s slight increase. That’s still 1.2% fewer vehicles than were assembled in like-2012, largely due to a 5.7% shortfall in truck production that only is partially offset by a 4.6% increase in car output.

Chrysler, General Motors, Kia and Toyota all have trimmed units from their revised Q1 truck-assembly plans.

Chrysler takes the biggest hit with light-truck output cut by 5,700, compared with its prior-month plan, even as it adds 3,800 car assemblies. Likewise, GM is taking 5,500 light trucks out of its Q1 slate, mostly large pickups, for inventory adjustment while adding just 500 units on the car side.

In both cases, downward adjustments in the January slate are being offset to some degree by increases in the February and March schedules, as is also the case with Kia.

Toyota is paring some 500 units monthly from its Q1 truck assembly slate, while Nissan is adding 1,500 trucks assemblies, offset by a 500-unit cut in car output.

The industry’s relatively robust Q1 outlook follows an estimated December production tally of 1,044,900 vehicles, 1.2% less than prior-year and an estimated 17,300 units short of the month’s previous plan.

However, that was more than offset by a 27,500-unit overbuild in the final November count, bringing fourth-quarter production to an estimated 3,888,800 vehicles, or 9.8% more than the 3,453,000 in like-2011.

A preliminary tally for the year shows 2012 output of 15,791,100 cars and trucks, a 17.2% gain on prior-year’s 13,477,700 completions, with cars up 23.9% and trucks ahead by 12.3%.

Transplant production reached an estimated 7,120,300 units, up 31% from the 5,434,000 vehicles built in 2011when natural disasters abroad decimated production at Japanese assembly plants in North American for several months.

Recovery efforts netted the transplants a 45.1% share of North American output in 2012, compared with year-ago’s 40.3%.

The Detroit Three built 8,309,800 cars and trucks in 2012, a 7.9% increase over 2011’s 7,700,800. However, their share of the industry’s total production dipped to 52.6% from 57.2% year-ago.

Dedicated medium- and heavy-duty truck makers increased output 7.2% in 2012 to an estimated 361,000 units from 336,700 in 2011, while their industry share slipped to 2.3% from 2.5%.

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