Global Carmageddon Continues: Mexico Total Vehicle Exports Crushed 12.7% In August
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Sun, 09/22/2019
In short, it looks like all hell is breaking loose for the auto industry, which continues to show signs of a profound global recession.
First, we saw Chinese auto sales fall 14 times in the last 15 months under the weight of a trade war and a far overextended consumer. U.S. auto sales have followed suit and are expected to continue to fall 2.2% percent in the back half of 2019. General Motors has found itself dealing with its first UAW strike in 12 years and now, the warning bells are also starting to be audible from Mexico.
Mexico saw its total vehicle exports collapse 12.7% in August, a sharp drop for one of the biggest exporters of vehicles in the world, according to new data from FreightWaves. Companies like Ford, Honda, Fiat-Chrysler, Toyota, BMW, GM, Kia, Mazda, Nissan, Volkswagen, and Audi all have manufacturing plants in Mexico.
Manufacturers shipped 281,811 units in August compared to 322,779 in August 2018, according to data from the Mexican National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) and the Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry (AMIA). AMIA President Eduardo Solís Sánchez is blaming the decline on “lower demand from the U.S., Canada and Brazil”. The three counties combined represent 90% of all Mexican auto exports.
While exports are still up 1.5% year to date, auto production has fallen almost 1% to 2.6 million units.
Solis said during a recent press conference: “There are brands that have indicated changes in their production lines [Nissan and Mazda] and others that after a drop in demand for the models have had to make adjustments. Even [Honda] said publicly that it will close a shift because of the low demand it is having for its HR-V model.”
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