North American Light-Vehicle Production Down 0.6% in March
It was a slow month for the U.S. and Mexico, while Canada production boomed.
April 15, 2016
North American light-vehicle production totaled 1,570,757 units in March, slipping 0.6% below like-2015.
Production in the U.S. slowed 0.5% to 1,086,028 for the month, though the year-to-date total was still up 5.2% with 3,026,177 LVs built.
FCA car production fell 75.5%, due mainly to its Sterling Heights, MI, plant being closed for inventory control, bringing U.S. car production down 10.3%.
Mexico witnessed a big decline in production, tumbling 10.8% to 265,770 LVs. Low output again from FCA was partially to blame: light-truck production was down 36.9% and car assembly at the Toluca plant has been on hold since January.
For the first three months of the year, production in Mexico reached 802,930, 4.9% lower than same-period 2015.
Against the regional trend, March production in Canada soared 15.2% to 218,959 light vehicles. This growth came from light-truck output which jumped 39.2% to 142,866 units. Ford alone built close to 10,000 more trucks this March than last year. Meanwhile, car production fell 13.0%.
Year-to-date, Canada production was up 17.3% with 630,825 LVs built in the first three months of 2016.
Several manufacturers scored best-ever March totals, including BMW (+4.1%), Subaru (+13.3%) and Toyota (+8.7%). Mazda production leaped 31.5% over same-month 2015 to 18,556 LVs, and was up 10.9% year-to-date.
Volkswagen showed the biggest year-over-year decline, dropping 23.6%. Hyundai also recorded a double-digit loss, down 14.9%.
Overall, North America January-March LV production was up 4.7% to 4,459,932 units.
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