Mexican new light-vehicle buyers took a bit of a breather in July, driving home 4,134 cars and light trucks on each of 27 selling days, down 3.2% from fast-paced June’s 4,270-unit daily rate.
But last month’s two additional selling days pumped volume for the month to a July record of 111,612 units, besting June’s 96,066 units and rising 16.2% above the 3,558 sold daily in second-best July 2014, when deliveries totaled 96,066.
It was the sixth monthly sales record this year, with only May’s 88,116 deliveries falling short of record territory.
Both cars and light trucks achieved record status in July, with cars soaring to 74,187 units, 14.9% greater than the prior benchmark of 64,593 set just a year ago.
July light-truck sales reached 37,425 units, besting by 37.8% the 27,161 vehicles sold in July last year and erasing the 36,593-unit record set in 2008.
At 26.4%, FCA experienced the largest year-over-year percentage gain of any of the higher volume automakers, landing it in the No.4 spot for the month ahead of rival Ford, although Ford retained its fourth-place ranking for the year.
Market leader Nissan checked in with a 21.7% increase over year-ago, while second-place General Motors saw a 2.3% gain and third-place Volkswagen’s sales rose 13.5%.
For the year, Mexico LV sales total 720,570 units, 20.9% more than the 595,760 cars and light trucks sold in like 2014, with cars up 23.1% and light trucks ahead by 17.0%.
However, while market leaders Nissan, GM and VW posted combined sales of 438,793 units for the 7-month period, up 19.2% from 368,070 in like-2014, their market share dipped to 60.9% from 61.8% thanks to inroads being made by the market’s newer, lower-volume brands such as Mazda, up 46.1%, and Hyundai, up 300%-plus in its first full year of operating its own distribution channel in Mexico.
