VW’s Puebla Plant Tops in First-Half Output

Volkswagen de Mexico’s plant in Puebla built more light vehicles through the first six months of 2011 than any North American assembly site, according to data compiled by Ward’s.

Home to the Beetle, Jetta and Bora car lines and located in the city of Puebla and the state of the same name, it produced 244,849 vehicles, up 27.1% from its like-2010 second-place total of 192,701.

’11 Jetta demand boosted Puebla’s output.

Credit popularity of the new-for-’11 Jetta, which in the U.S. through June saw its sales balloon 66% to 91,751 units from 55,258 year-ago. Model-year sales for the compact sedan are up 54.9% over its predecessor, according to Ward’s.

Last year, Toyota’s Georgetown, KY, facility, took the first-half crown with 204,979 builds.

But a parts shortage due to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11 slowed output by 34.4% % to 134,517 units and bounced it completely out of the top 10 builders in North America.

Since 2002, Georgetown has finished the year as the No.1 or No.2 LV producer in North America eight times.

Sales of the Georgetown-built Camry, a perennially No.1 selling sedan in the U.S., were down 4.1% through the first six months to 146,546 units, from 152,873 in like-2010.

In addition, Georgetown produces the Venza cross/utility vehicle and Avalon large sedan. Sales of both are lagging this year.

Toyota’s Georgetown site also ceded the full-year title last year to Puebla and expansion-minded Volkswagen. The German auto maker wants to sell 800,000 vehicles in the U.S. by 2018, or more than double its current total.

Despite Toyota’s parts shortages, it won’t give up its volume-building status easily. The auto maker says it is running ahead of schedule in restoring global production.

It plans to increase North American builds 3.7% in the third quarter, after falling behind by 13.7% in the region through July.

Nissan Mexicana’s assembly plant in Aguascalientes, home to production of the Versa and Sentra small cars and some light-commercial vehicles, moved to second place with 190,086 builds, up 23.5% from last year’s 153,934.

Aguascalientes cranked out the 3 millionth LV for Nissan’s Mexico operations last month, a silver Sentra bound for the U.S., the plant’s main export market.

Hyundai’s assembly plant in Montgomery, AL, built 175,000 LV units and moved up to third place through the first six months, after finishing ninth in the prior-year with 154,550 units.

The 13.2% increase comes on the strength of the hot-selling Sonata midsize sedan, which saw its LV sales in the first six months rise 28.9% to 115,014 units from 89,249 in like-2010.

The popularity of the Sonata compelled Hyundai earlier this year to transfer production of the Santa Fe CUV from Montgomery to sister Kia’s manufacturing site in West Point, GA.

Honda’s Marysville, OH, assembly plant dropped out of the top five, as builds of the Accord and Acura TL and RDX sunk 24.5% to 224,547 from 297,363 in like-2010. Blame the same parts-supply problems plaguing Toyota.

Toyota’s Cambridge, ON, Canada, assembly plant also exited the first-half top 10, as did Chrysler’s Windsor, ON, minivan facility.

General Motors’ Fort Wayne, OH, assembly plant (166,304) broke into the LV top 10 at No.6 on the strength of an uptick in demand for its fullsize pickup and extra production of heavy-duty models.

The auto maker’s Lordstown, OH, assembly plant (152,444) squeaked back into the top 10 for the first time since 2008 at No.10. Lordstown builds the well-received and new-for-’11 Chevy Cruze compact car.

GM and Ford retain their traditional leading-producer positions in the year’s first six months with total North American LV builds of 1.6 million and 1.3 million units, respectively. Chrysler produced 996,822 units for the No.3 spot.

Nissan (563,281) bumped Honda (510,618) out of fourth place to sixth and Toyota (531,876) claimed fifth.

The GMT 900 platform, which shoulders fullsize pickups and SUVs at GM, remained North America’s highest-output LV architecture with 522,114 builds, up 10.1% from year-ago’s 474,213.

Ontario held onto its status as the top LV-producing state with 1.1 million builds, and basically stayed even with its assembly totals through the first six months of 2010.

Michigan finished second with 930,533, up 23.8% from year-ago, and Ohio came in third with 580,725, up 0.5%. Those top three spots were unchanged from 2010.

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