North American Light-Vehicle Production Posts Record September

September North America light-vehicle production increased just 0.1% over like-2015 to 1,532,758 units, but hit a record high for the month.

Production in the U.S. grew 0.6% to 1,049,278 LVs. Light-truck output climbed 3.1% to 704,012 units at the expense of car production, which fell 4.1% to 345,266. It was a slow month at FCA (-19.7%) and Ford (-15.5%) assembly plants, while General Motors (+20.1%) and Toyota (+12.5) both saw double-digit growth.

For the first three quarters, U.S. production was 1.6% ahead of same-period 2015 with 9,066,946 units.

In Canada, both car and light-truck production fell in September, bringing total builds down 3.9% to 201,793. Even after a slow month, year-to-date production outpaced same-period 2015 by 7.7% with 1,789,020 units.

Automakers in Mexico built 281,687 LVs, with a 5.4% increase in light-truck output and a 1.9% dip in car production.

Nissan added a fifth model to its A1 plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico: the Kicks. This all-new subcompact CUV was launched in Mexico and Brazil, and will later be sold throughout Latin America and countries in the Persian Gulf. Over 5,000 Kicks rolled off the line in both August and September.

January-to-September production in Mexico grew 0.5% over same-period 2015 with 2,555,632 LVs.

It was a strong month for many automakers. BMW (+2.2%), Kia (+58.1%), Mercedes-Benz (+6.4%), Subaru (+9.0%) and Toyota (+9.2%) all posted best-ever September totals. 

Breaking the total down by segment, Luxury Car saw the biggest increase, gaining 30.4% over year-ago with 60,076 units for the month. The CUV segment, by far the largest in volume, grew 6.4% to 479,618 units. Small Car fell 11.0% and Van dropped 17.3%.

North America production overall reached 13,411,598 LVs through Q3, outpacing same-period 2015 by 2.1%.

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