Automobile production and exports hit a record level in the January-April period, rising 5.8 percent and 8.7 percent, respectively, compared to the first four months of 2013, the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA) said.

Passenger vehicle production and exports reached “their best historic level both in the month of April and year-to-date,” the AMIA said in a statement.

Automotive companies produced 1.02 million vehicles in the January-April period, of which “some 82.9 percent corresponded to units destined for the foreign market and the remaining 17.1 percent to the domestic market,” the industry association said.

Exports totaled 808,532 units, of which 70.6 percent were sent to the United States, 10.6 percent were exported to Latin American countries and 9.8 percent were sent to Canada and other regions in the world.

Domestic sales, however, remained sluggish at just 327,989 units in the first four months of the year, down 0.80 percent from the same period in 2013, the AMIA said.

Automakers sell both vehicles assembled in Mexico and models imported from subsidiaries in other countries to Mexican consumers.

The top selling brands in Mexico during the first four months of the year were Nissan, with 83,719 units; General Motors, with 61,752 units; and Volkswagen, with 61,752 units.

Automakers produced 248,031 units in Mexico in April, a figure that was up 3.9 percent from the same month in 2013, while exports totaled 202,328 units, up 9 percent from April of last year, the AMIA said.

A total of 76,865 units were sold domestically in April, down 8 percent from the same month in 2013, the trade group said.

Source:Latin American Herald Tribune