North American Light-Vehicle Production Down 2.3% in May

North American automakers built 1,471,241 light vehicles in May, 2.3% below same-month 2014.

Canada saw a big decline in production, dropping 20.7% from year-ago to 177,557 units. All automakers in the country posted negative year-over-year results, with FCA and Ford recording double digit declines. Over the first five months of the year, output was down 8.9%.

Mexican plants delivered 286,592 LVs, a record high for May and third-best of any month, although just 0.1% above last year’s 286,193 tally. Year-to-date, production grew 8.6%.

Light-vehicle builds in the U.S. rose 1.2% to 1,007,092 units. The January-May total was 2.0% higher than year-ago.

Honda scored a best-ever May result, up 5.3% from 2014 to 159,136 LVs. Subaru also hit a monthly record high with 24,619 units, 11.3% higher than last year.

Hyundai showed the greatest year-over-year decline, slipping 15.2% in May. This result brought the automaker’s 5-month total 3.4% below like-2014.

Car production totaled 616,677 units, 1.3% above year-ago. Output from January through May climbed 2.7% to 3,023,174.

Light-truck builds fell 4.7%, the greatest decline in over five years, to 854,564. Despite the drop, the year-to-date result was still positive, up 1.0% to 4,196,562 units.

North American light-vehicle production through May reached 7,219,736, up 1.7% from year-ago.

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