The automotive industry registered a 31.4% growth in vehicle production last August, compared to the same month of 2021, with 316,815 cars, which places it with the best volume of units since October 2020, according to Inegi data.
Automotive assemblers added four months of continuous growth until August. However, the sector showed a lag of 8.1% compared to August 2019, prior to the impact of the pandemic.
Under this tenor, the director of the Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry (AMIA), Fausto Cuevas, asked not to “throw the bells on the fly” with the growth of more than 30% in the production of vehicles during last August, since he warned that the assembly levels reported in 2019 will be reached until 2024.
“We are on the expected path, but there is still a long way to go,” he stated at a press conference, noting that the shortage of semiconductors continues, not only in Mexico but in the rest of the world, until they start operating. new chipmakers in the United States.
According to the National Auto Parts Industry (INA), the affectation due to the lack of semiconductors in North America has had a recovery of 76% in the period from January to September of this year, compared to 2021. This means that the industry has stopped producing 469,785 units in that period, due to lack of chips.
“It seems a more optimistic scenario, but the expectation is a slow recovery. We will not have the levels of 2019 until 2024. The important thing is that what seems to be the negative is reversed and a better scenario is seen ahead,” said Fausto Cuevas. He specified that the supply of semiconductors is not resolved from one month to the next, nor in a few months. It is expected to close 2022 with an increase in assembly of 5% and continue the trend in the next two years. From January to August, the automotive assemblers have assembled 2 million 238,153 units, with an accumulated increase of 8%.
“Mexican production and exports of light vehicles register double-digit growth in August 2022. The industry continues to overcome the challenges in global supply chains,” AMIA stated.
Automotive exports registered the shipment of 248,704 units, an increase of 17% compared to the eighth month of 2021 and also the best result so far this year. But the assemblers have exported 1 million 863,469 cars, which means growth of 2.4% accumulated.
“There is a supply of semiconductors, parts and components and that allows us to recover a good part of production and exports, gradually returning to pre-pandemic levels,” Cuevas said.
Given the greater availability of units, the AMDA modified upwards its outlook for growth in light vehicle sales by the end of 2022, which could be placed at 1 million 50,000 cars, 12,000 units more than the previous expectation.
