North American Light-Vehicle Production Down 2.6% in February

Several manufacturers achieved record results for the month, while some others posted double-digit declines.

Erin Sunde, Industry Analyst

March 18, 2015

1 Min Read
North American Light-Vehicle Production Down 2.6% in February

North American automakers built 1,346,130 light vehicles in February, 2.6% below same-month 2014.

Car production in the month fell 2.7% from year-ago, to 562,532 units. The January-February total was down 1.4%.

Production of light trucks slipped 2.5%, the biggest drop since March 2013’s 3.5% decline and only the second year-over-year downturn since then. The 783,598 builds brought the 2-month 2015 result to 1,532,257, up 1.4% from last year.

General Motors regained the top-manufacturer spot from FCA, after one month in second place. Ford maintained the third-highest volume, but output tumbled 15.5% from same-month 2014.

Honda also recorded a major year-over-year drop, falling 17.6% to 122,637 vehicles.

Subaru’s production soared 25.8% above last year’s February number. Output reached 27,455 units, the manufacturer’s highest result for that month.

Toyota also had a best-February total with 145,825 vehicles, up 8.9% from last year.

Other manufacturers with record results for February included BMW and Mercedes.

Light-vehicle production in the U.S. came to 898,951 units for the month, down 5.1% from prior-year. Year-to-date, assemblies were 1.9% below same-period 2014.

Canadian LV output saw the greatest year-to-year decline since January 2013, as it fell 11.7% in February. For the first two months of 2015, the result was down just 3.6%.

Mexico continued a 14-month streak of gains over the prior year with 14.0% growth from same-month 2014. The January-February total was 10.5% above year-ago.

North American LV production year-to-date was 2,678,277 units, up 0.2% from last year.

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About the Author

Erin Sunde

Industry Analyst, WardsAuto

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