Mexico's Auto Industry Hits 89.6% Plant Capacity in Jan-July 2023

The Mexican automotive industry operated at 89.6% of its plant capacity between January and July 2023, according to the Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry (AMIA). 

This utilization rate surpasses the figures seen during the same period from 2019 to 2022. Specifically, in 2022, plant capacity utilization was 80.8%, in 2021 it stood at 76.7%, in 2020 it was 59.9%, and in 2019 it reached 86.3%.

AMIA emphasized the dominance of SUVs and pickups in both production and exports during the first nine months of this year. Of the 2.85 million light vehicles produced in this period, these two categories accounted for 76.3%, totaling 2.18 million units. This breakdown includes 1.38 million SUVs, constituting 48.6% of the total production and 790,635 pickups making up 27.7% of the production.

"The statistics clearly show the strong presence of SUVs and pickups in our production lines. These vehicles continue to be the driving force behind the Mexican automotive industry,” says AMIA in a press release.

Export figures have also reflected this trend, with a total of 2.43 million units exported during the same period. SUVs and pickups constituted 81% of these exports, amounting to 1.98 million units. Breaking this down further, SUVs alone accounted for 1.31 million of units exported, while pickups contributed 675,663 units to the export numbers.