Mexico May auto output surges 15% on year

Mexican automotive production surged 15.2% in May year over year to 275,436 units, according to data from Mexico 's Institute of Statistics and Geography, or Inegi.

May represents a month of recovery after a 17.8% fall in April, due the slowdown in the local automotive sector, caused by the global shortage of semiconductors, according to the Inegi data, released June 6.

In the first five months of 2022, the production of cars rose 3.5% to 1.38 million units from 1.33 million units a year ago.

"There is still a lot of uncertainty worldwide and there is no clarity on production levels, but the recent increase is the result of the chip supply that each automotive brand has managed to have," Guillermo Rosales, president of the Mexican Association of Automotive Dealers, said June 7 in an interview posted on the AMDA's Twitter account.

Sales of new cars reported an increase of 5.2% on year to 91,215 units, which was also 4,505 units more compared with May a year ago.

January-to-May sales of new cars inched down 0.9% to 428,056 units from 431,836 units a year ago.

According to Rosales, the lack of supply of new cars continued to hamper sales activity, since the average waiting period for a new car is around two months, although depending on the brand, it can reach up to eight months, he said.

Moreover, Rosales said, prices for new cars rose 8.9% year over year during the first half of May.

"This is the result of higher manufacturing costs where we can include the chip shortage, higher prices of raw materials such as steel and higher energy costs," he said.

May's exports also saw a slight recovery of 1.1% to 244,643 units on year.

In the five-month period, exports inched down 0.3% to 1.17 compared with the same period of a year earlier to 1.16 million units.