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Despite several strong monthly performances, Mexico dealers closed the books on 2013 with fifth-best sales of 1,061,728 light vehicles.
While that was 7.7% ahead of 2012’s 985,866 deliveries, it fell 6.3% short of the record 1,132,783 units sold in 2006.
Cars and light trucks both held the No.5 spot in 2013, with 684,781 car deliveries trailing by 7.1% the record 736,952 sold in 2004. Light-truck sales of 376,962 were 19.3% below the 2006 record of 467,105.
With 25 selling days, December LV deliveries averaged 4,768 daily on volume of 119,189 units, up 12% from the 4,257-a-day pace the prior year, when sales reached 110,692 in 26 days.
But they trailed by 15.2% the 5,623 sold each of 26 days in December 2005 on record volume of 146,198 units.
Although LV deliveries rose to all-time-high levels in May and July on the strength of monthly car-sales records, an overall lackluster economy held down demand for much of the year.
The Nissan brand again led the industry with sales of 263,477 units in 2013, up 7.6% from prior-year’s 244,962 deliveries, with Chevrolet holding onto second place at 193,072, compared with 2012’s 179,420 units.
The Volkswagen Jetta, at 91,613 units, up 19.9% from 2012, was the top-selling light vehicle in 2013, trailed by Nissan Versa at 49,004, a gain of 3.2% from the prior year.
The top-selling light truck was Nissan’s cab-chassis, with sales of 26,996 units, down 2.3% from 2012.
