A Moderate Sales Recovery

It has been a busy week for the automotive sector. INEGI's early figures on vehicle sales were released with an accumulated 31.4 percent negative growth between January and August. ALADDA's President and AMDA's Executive President, Guillermo Prieto, explains the challenges the Latin America region faces in its recovery.

The pandemic does not prevent innovation and talent. Flying cars are taking off from a Toyota-backed company who successfully conducted Japan's first-ever manned flight in a flying car. Regarding talent, Audi and BMW continue to bet on training premium talent for premium vehicle manufacturing in Mexico.

In this week's featured interviews, you can find INFINITI México's Managing Director, Philipp Heldt, who talks about INFINITI’s strategy to make connected, autonomous, shared and electric vehicles a reality.

Sit tight, this is the Week in Automotive!

Moderate Recovery in Mexican Vehicle Sales

Sales figures in 2020 show a 31.4 percent contraction between January and August compared to 2019 and only in August a year-on-year 28.7 percent decrease for a total of 77,092 new vehicles sold. AMDA expects an annual 26 percent drop in sales, meaning only 964,400 units sold in 2020.

You can read the full story here

Expert Contributor Guillermo Prieto, who is also President of the Latin American Association of Automotive Dealerships (ALADDA), writes about the region's readiness for a market recovery.

You can read Guillermo Prieto's expert opinion here

Audi and BMW Graduate a New Generation of Apprentices

Audi and BMW started their respective dual-education programs in 2015, prior to opening their manufacturing plants in Puebla and San Luis Potosi. Both premium vehicle manufacturers agree that dual education is a pillar for their operations and a seed to level up regional talent.

You can read the full story here

INFINITI, Making CASE Vehicles a Reality

Philipp Heldt, Managing Director of INFINITI México, details the strategies for Nissan's premium brand to embrace CASE vehicles within its portfolio and the advances in its INFINITI Black program.

You can read the full interview here

International Roads

Brands continue to launch or relaunch models to make the rest of 2020 more profitable. FCA has recently revealed its new family of Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. Meanwhile, Daimler, home to Mercedes-Benz, will launch a new model of its luxury sedan Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

It seems that GM might be backing the current US federal administration to stay in office. This week, GM CEO Mary Barra hosted Ivanka Trump, one of the top advisers and daughter to the US President Donald Trump, in Michigan, a key state for the upcoming elections in November.