The Administrative Registry of the Heavy Vehicle Automotive Industry (RAIAVP) presented by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) showed negative numbers in the production and export of units in the accumulated period from January to July 2024; However, these figures could improve in the remainder of the year.
This Friday, the National Association of Bus, Truck and Tractor Producers (ANPACT) , together with the Mexican Association of Automotive Distributors (AMDA) , presented the information corresponding to the month of July on the sale, production and export of heavy vehicles , which contains information from the RAIAVP.
The panorama shown by these figures in terms of production indicates that in the accumulated period from January to July of this year this activity decreased 6% compared to the same period in 2023, with a production of 123,467 units ; The production of cargo vehicles decreased 6.5% (118,258 units), while passenger vehicles increased 11.9% (4,544 units).
Rogelio Arzate, executive president of ANPACT, explained that this decrease is due to the fact that the industry carried out some issues in production , for example, in the issue of mirrors, however, in the month of July it is already being overcome, so This month it increased 20.9%, compared to July 2023.
By type of technology, in the first seven months of the year the production of natural gas vehicles grew by 133.6%, with a production of 1,151 units , while the production of electric vehicles decreased 25%, with 72 units, and diesel 6.4 %, with 122,360 units manufactured.
Likewise, from January to July exports decreased, accounting for 95,147 units, a reduction of 9.7%, the export of cargo vehicles decreased 9.7% and passenger vehicles decreased 28.1 percent.
In contrast, during July 2024, 16,266 units were exported , which meant an advance of 16.1% compared to the same month last year.
So far this year, heavy vehicles have been exported to 14 countries. In this sense, exports to the United States, the main trading partner, increased to 13.2%, while those directed to Canada had a significant growth of 105 percent.
On the other hand, wholesale sales in the period from January to July totaled 33,238 units, a growth of 8% compared to the previous period; Sales of cargo units totaled 27,979 units, a growth of 7.9%; while passenger units totaled 5,259 vehicles sold, an increase of 8.1 percent.
Furthermore, in July wholesale sales increased 19.7% year-on-year, registering the best month since 2021, highlighting that tractor trailers broke their historical maximum in the period from January to July with 15,910 units sold.
By energy source, from January to July 2024, 85 natural gas units were sold wholesale, a decrease of 83.5%; four electric, a decrease of 97%; and 505 hybrids, with a growth of 79.1 percent.
Regarding retail marketing, from January to July 31,720 units were sold, an advance of 9.18 percent. Specifically in July, 5,058 were sold, growing 16.71 percent.
In these numbers, the cargo segment represented 83.4% of the retail market, while the passenger segment represented 16.6 percent.
Regarding brands, Freightliner leads the cargo market with 32.39%, followed by Kenworth , with 26.9%, International , with 15.86%, Isuzu , with 7.33% and Hino , with 5.9 percent.
In the passenger segment, Mercedes-Benz had the largest market share with 43.8%, followed by International , with 14.6%; Volvo Buses , with 13.36; Volkswagen , with 12.1%; and Scania , with 8.42 percent.
“For the domestic market there are several issues that we want to continue promoting, how to grow it, and for this we are working on a scrapping process, a plan that we have and want to execute in ANPACT. To achieve this, there are many variables that we must continue to push, such as financing to renew the fleet,” said Rogelio Arzate.
Likewise, he said that greater focus should be placed on diesel vehicles , since the heavy duty industry is ready to offer EURO VI technology and this requires ultra-low sulfur diesel.
“We know that in specific corridors there is an availability of 80% (of diesel) but we need strategic distribution and work with all authorities to make this sustainable,” he added.
Used units haunt the Mexican market
On the other hand, the ANPACT representative highlighted a worrying issue, since imports of used heavy units are affecting the Mexican market.
According to the data shared, from January to June 2024, this activity increased 133.3% compared to the same period in 2023, identifying 16,162 units, so if the figure is annualized, it would reach more than 32,000 units (64% of market projection).
“If 2023 in itself was a very large year in increase, we are seeing an even greater increase. This has impacts on the terminal industry and would generate many issues in the renewal of the vehicle fleet. We have talked about the scrapping ecosystem and the fact that so many used vehicles arrive in Mexico has an economic, environmental and safety decrease. These units do not comply with the standards, safety, or physical-mechanical conditions,” Arzate emphasized.
Rogelio Arzate said that in light of this scenario they have already approached the authorities of the current federal administration, as well as having already started a conversation with the team of the president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum and her new cabinet, mainly Alicia Bárcena, who will assume ownership of the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat ) Marcelo Ebrard, who will head the Ministry of Economy (SE) and Jesús Antonio Esteva, who will take over the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) .
“We talked a little about what a used vehicle imported from the United States entails at the conference. From the point of view of the plans of the new administration with Dr. Sheinbaum, we do see that the issue of scrap metal is very much in mind, the issue of improving the environment, safety, so we see positive and believe that there is a lot of willingness to work,” said Arzate.
He indicated that these numbers come from what is observed in customs by the National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM) , to which the industry is actively linked.
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