North American auto assemblies rebound in January

North American vehicle production, including personal and commercial vehicles, totaled 1.237 million units in January, a rise of more than 33% from December’s 992,046 units and 0.1% behind the 1.238 million units produced a year earlier.

Figure 1 below provides a five-year snapshot of North American light-vehicle production since 2020 on a rolling 12-month basis with a y/y growth rate. Also included is a five-year snapshot of average monthly production, which includes seasonality since 2016.

A short-term snapshot of assembly by nation and vehicle type is shown in the table below. It breaks down total North American personal and commercial vehicle production into US, Canadian, and Mexican components. It also includes the three- and 12-month growth rates for each and their momentum change.

For the three months and 12 months through January, the growth rate for total personal and commercial production in the USMCA region is lagging. The momentum shift remains in place since commercial assembly vehicle segments saw an appreciable gain from Q4’24.

Personal vehicle production

The longer-term picture of personal vehicle production across North America is shown below. The charts in Figure 2 show the total personal vehicle production for North America and the total for the US, Canada, and Mexico.

In terms of personal vehicle production, this segment saw a 40.3% month-over-month (m/m) increase in January. Assemblies last month totaled 935,024 units, up from 666,377 units in December. It’s still, however, 0.3% below a year earlier.

The US saw a 34.7% m/m production gain, with 156,311 additional units in January. Mexico produced 85,473 more units (+61.2%), while Canada’s production was up 26,863 units (+35.5%).

Production share across North America was little changed. The US’ personal vehicle production share of the North American market was 65.2%, followed by Mexico and Canada at 23.7% and 11.1%, respectively.

Commercial vehicle production

Total commercial vehicle production in North America and the total for each nation within the region are shown in the first chart in Figure 3 on a rolling three-month basis. Commercial vehicle production in the US and Mexico, as well as their y/y growth rates and the production share for each nation in North America, are also shown.

North American commercial vehicle production also increased in January. The region saw a 15.3% m/m increase, with a total of 302,291 units, up from 260,896 in December. January’s output was 0.7% above last year.

The US saw a 19.2% m/m rise, with 34,312 additional commercial vehicles assembled in January. Mexico followed, up 9.3% (+6,741 units), and then Canada, up 3.5% (+342 units).

The market share across the region was also largely unchanged in December. The US total share was 68.1%, followed by Mexico with 28.1% and Canada with 3.9%.

Mexico exports just under 80% of its light-vehicle production, with the US and Canada as the highest-volume destinations.

Editor’s note: This report is based on data from LMC Automotive for automotive assemblies in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The breakdown of assemblies is “Personal” (cars for personal use) and “Commercial” (light vehicles with less than 6.0 metric tons gross vehicle weight rating; heavy trucks and buses are not included).