North American Light-Vehicle Production Hits 12-Year High in January

North American automakers built 1,326,636 light vehicles in January 2015, rising 2.7% above 2014 to a 12-year high for the month.

Several manufacturers recorded best-ever January results. Subaru posted a 16.7% gain to 26,814 units. Honda built 157,642 light vehicles, up 8.8%. Toyota boosted production 15.9% to 159,837 vehicles.

Ford’s LV production dipped 12.1% to 194,579 units. Slowdowns at the Oakville, ON, Canada, and Kansas City 2, MO, facilities for model-year changeover retooling were the main factor in the decline.

Car output saw a small downtick of 1.0% to 557,872 units. Production of light trucks totaled 768,764, up 5.6%. The market has been trending toward light trucks, as sales of light trucks grew 10.0% and cars grew just 1.7% in 2014 versus 2013.

Production at U.S. plants totaled 882,055 LVs in January, up 1.4% from prior-year.

Canadian output grew 3.4% from 2014 to 179,205. Toyota and FCA saw double-digit gains, while Ford and GM recorded double-digit declines.

Output in Mexico hit a best-ever January result with 265,376 LVs built. Full-swing production at Mazda’s Salamanca plant and Honda’s Celaya facility helped reverse the effect of General Motors’ 24% drop. The nationwide total was 7.0% above last year.

WardsAuto forecasts North American LV production at 17.4 million units for 2015, with capacity utilization projected at 99.6%.

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