La Jornada: Car exports from Mexico grew to Canada, Germany and Brazil

Vehicle exports in Mexico have increased so far in 2026, but its market in the United States is increasingly smaller and has instead given way to the growth of sales to Canada, Germany and Brazil, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi).

From January to May, the country exported 1,388,236 units, 4 percent more than the total reported in the first five months of last year. However, those that go to the United States market decreased and so did their participation in car exports in Mexico.

Last year, 80.9 percent of the cars sold by Mexico to other countries were destined for the United States, a total of one million 79,690 units; In the same period from January to May 2026, the number of vehicles exported to that country decreased to one million 47 thousand 208 and their proportion also decreased to 75.4 percent.

President Donald Trump’s administration has fully imposed a series of tariffs on Mexican exports, including the automotive industry, which pays fees based on what proportion of its units do not comply with the rules of origin of the Mexico-United States-Canada Treaty.

Thus, Canada has taken a greater share of the sector’s market, going from 10.2 to 12.5 percent; Germany rose from 2.4 to 3; and Brazil was placed in fourth place as a recipient of 1.7 percent of Mexican car exports, between January and May 2025 and 2026.

This imposition of regional components has hit, at least until May, Nissan, whose exports have suffered an annual drop of 24.1 percent; to the BMW Group, with 13; Mazda, 12.6, and Honda, with a reduction of 7.9 percentage points. Even Ford saw a decrease of 9.4.

Inegi also reported that in the first five months of 2026, one million 642 thousand 83 units were produced, which represented a drop of 0.09 percent compared to the same period in 2025, also with Mazda, Nissan and BMW Group as the main affected, with annual falls of 27.5, 27.3 and 19.8 percent, respectively.