Q1 N. American Vehicle Output Plan Fourth Best on Record

Despite some trimming, scheduled first-quarter North American car and truck production still is set to reach the fourth-best level in history, barring any further weather-related interruptions such as those hitting two Ford plants this week.

Revised plans call for the assembly of 4,250,800 vehicles in January-March, the industry’s best showing for the quarter since the 4,287,180 units turned out in like 2006 and within 12% of the record 4,811,000 units built in January-March 2000.

It also represents a 4.0% increase from the 4,086,000 completions tallied in like-2013.

General Motors posted to the largest cut, taking planned output down some 24,800 units to 851,700 for the quarter, with a 36,500-unit reduction in car assemblies partially offset by an 11,700 increase in trucks.

Chrysler likewise trimmed 13,400 cars from its Q1 slate while adding 3,800 trucks.

Ford’s schedules, including Mustang and Fusion output at Flat Rock, remained unchanged overall, but the auto maker had to shutter Flat Rock Monday, Feb.3, and lost at least one shift at its Michigan Assembly facility all due to parts shortages resulting from several winter storms in the Midwest and along the East Coast.

Meanwhile, Mazda’s new plant in Mexico is getting under way with an estimated 3,700 cars built in January and 11,400 slated for completion in the quarter, while electric-car maker Tesla is expected to produce 6,300 vehicles in January-March, up from 5,000 a year earlier, including an estimated 2,200 in January. 

Overall, the Detroit Three are slated to build 2,266,100 vehicles in January-March, a 4.8% gain on prior-year’s 2,161,400 completions, accounting for 53.3% of North American output vs. 52.9% in 2013.

Tesla and the transplants combined are up 2.7% to 1,900,100 units from 1,851,000, for a 44.7% share of production compared with prior-year’s 45.3%

Dedicated medium- and heavy-duty truck makers have notched a 14.9% gain to 84,600 units from 73,600. They account for 2.0% of Q1 output vs. 1.8% a year ago.

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