North America Light-Vehicle Production Declines in April

April North America light-vehicle production decreased 9.5% year-over-year to 1,361,167 units. The performance followed a strong first quarter and marked a rare month with no new models added to the tally. 

Output from assembly plants in the U.S. dropped 14.1% to 890,467 LVs, the smallest April total since 2012. Much of the loss came from car volume, which plummeted 20.9% to 268,755 units. Light-truck assembly slowed 10.8% to 621,712.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles production in the U.S. shrank 34.9% to 87,506 units, General Motors was down 12.3% to 178,957 and Ford fell 6.9% to 206,392. 

Outpacing the rest of the country, Tesla increased production to an estimated 8,626 units, more than double year-ago’s 4,035. Volkswagen output soared an estimated 31.4% to 10,103 units, boosted by ramped-up Atlas production in Chattanooga, TN.

Through April, U.S. production was 4.9% behind same-period 2016 at 3,835,016 units. Light-truck output inched up 1.0%, while the car total fell 16.6% year-to-date. The U.S. held a 65.4% share of the region’s LV assembly.

Production also slowed in Canada, dropping 6.9% to 184,925 units in April. FCA was the only manufacturer to improve on year-ago’s total, gaining an estimated 10.9% to 43,672 builds.

Toyota, Canada’s highest-volume producer, witnessed a 10.0% drop to 46,545 units. Ford (-18.1%), GM (-14.3%) and Honda (-4.2%) also saw losses.

Canada’s 4-month total fell 5.1% below like-2016 to 782,520 units.

Beating the rest of the region, Mexico production rose 6.5% to 285,775 units in April. Gains in both car (+2.1%) and light-truck (+12.8%) assembly helped the country earn 20.0% share of the region, up from 17.8% in like-2016.

FCA grew 41.4% to 41,147 units, Ford was up 10.2% to 28,877 and Toyota gained 2.8% to 8,339. Much of the year-over-year improvement came  from plants that weren’t operating 12 months ago, such as Kia’s Monterrey and Volkswagen’s San Jose Chiapa facilities.

After four months of gains, Mexico’s year-to-date total was 16.5% above same-period 2016 with 1,247,604 LVs.

Despite Mexico’s progress, all segment regional totals fell below year-ago. Middle car was the weakest, losing 21.9% to 172,158 units, and even the popular CUV segment dropped 5.5% to 416,657.

Through April, North American automakers built 5,865,140 LVs, falling 1.1% behind like-2016.

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