The accumulated demand due to the lack of semiconductors and manufacturing synchronization causes, that the production and export of heavy vehicles grow to double digits during April 2022; however, the reported figures are still below the pre-Covid-19 pandemic period, said Miguel Elizalde, executive president of the National Association of Bus, Truck and Tractor Truck Producers (ANPACT).
During the fourth month of the year, the Mexican industry produced 15,358 heavy units, increasing 20.3% compared to April 2021, when 12,767 trucks were assembled; although it is still 9.8% below what was reported in 2019, when 17,019 units were manufactured, the leader said.
According to figures reported to INEGI, ANPACT mentioned that exports grew 14.7% during last April, by sending 12,183 units to the world, compared to 10,619 exported in the same month of 2021.
Although this positive figure is 9.7% lower than April 2019, a period in which 13,490 units were exported.
Miguel Elizalde considered that this positive streak will not set a trend, after Mexico will face new factors that will alter the recovery in the industry, since the closure of activities in China is presented again that will affect the logistics of supplies deliveries, in addition to the lowest economic activity in the United States.
Of the total production of trucks and buses carried out by companies located in Mexico, 85% is exported and of that amount, 98% is destined for the United States, he explained.
“We have seen that the industry has stopped being just in time (just in time) and that is why we see that production increases. That is why we think that the growth is not sustained”, said the president of ANPACT, since “there is no synchrony in the plants, with respect to the production lines. I was able to get the vehicles to leave, but without some semiconductor, they move away and when the missing part arrives, they leave”.
Domestic market adjusts
The heavy industry sold 3,370 wholesale units in April, this is 46.5% more than the same month in 2021, when it sold 2,301 trucks.
Guillermo Rosales, president of the Mexican Association of Automotive Dealers (AMDA), reported that retail sales increased 28.3%, when 3,275 units were sold, derived from the greater availability of inventories.