North American Light Vehicle Production at 14-Year High in 2014

North American light-vehicle manufacturers assembled 16,937,093 units in 2014, a 5.2% jump from the prior year and the highest result since 2000’s 17,162,649 volume.

The year ended on a high note, as December’s result was 17.1% higher than same-month 2013. The tally included 510,068 cars and 717,600 light trucks, each up just over 17%.

Despite the positive December outcome, 2014 car output was 0.3% below the previous year with a total of 7,083,027. Light trucks soared 9.6% to a record-high yearly result, 9,854,066 units.

Several automakers had all-time highs in 2014. Nissan reached 1,753,182 vehicles, boosted 19.1% above the prior year by its Smyrna, TN, plant (+33.9%). Toyota posted a 7.5% gain to 1,892,025 vehicles. Honda saw a small uptick of 1.5% to 1,807,124. BMW, Subaru and Mercedes-Benz also had record-high results.

Ford was the only major automaker to post a decline in the year, slipping 4.9% due to plant shutdowns for model-year changeovers. WardsAuto estimates Ford will surpass 3 million units in 2015 with a 5% increase from the 2,890,866 output in 2014.

U.S. plants built 837,252 LVs last month, up 15.4% from December 2013. Production in full-year 2014 totaled 11,361,877 units, 5.1% above the previous year.

In Canada, monthly output increased 14.0% from year-ago, to 184,503. Annual output of 2,382,218 units was 0.5% above prior-year.

Production in Mexico rose 28.3% to 205,913 units in December. Year-to-date, plants in the country surpassed the 3 million mark for the first time with 3,192,998 LVs built.

Ford saw a 16.3% decline in production, but double-digit gains by FCA, Toyota and General Motors’ Silao plant along with new plants from Mazda and Honda kept the total output 9.7% higher than last year.

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