Sales of Chinese cars were up 63% last year in Mexico, reaching a new record of 129,329 units sold in 2023, according to the Mexican Association of Automobile Distributors (AMDA).
The most-sold brand was MG Motors, with 60,128 units sold between January and December 2023. The second best-performing Chinese automaker was the newcomer Chirey, which sold 38,484 units in 2023, an increase of 350% only one year after it opened dealerships in the country in 2022.
Vehicle sales in Mexico reached a 5-year high in 2023, bolstered by the post-pandemic recovery of the domestic market, the resumed flow of automotive supply chains and a rebounding supply of semiconductors.
In the last 12 months, Mexico has also seen the arrival of seven new Chinese brands to the market.
Besides MG Motors, Chirey, JAC and the Motornation fleet of brands BAIC, JMC and Changan, Chinese brands in Mexico now include BYD, Geely, Omoda (Chery), Great Wall Motor, GAC Motor, SEV and Jetour. Jaecco and Exeed have also announced their plans to enter the Mexican automotive market, and experts say as many as seven additional brands may arrive in 2024.
“More than stemming from a policy by China, [the Chinese car boom] has resulted from the openness of Mexico,” said Carlos Zarza, advisor to the Mexico-China Chamber of Commerce and Technology.
The pandemic-era global chip shortage hit U.S. and European automakers the hardest; Asian automakers had a greater availability of units and that helped them get off to a strong start in Mexico, Zarza explained to the newspaper Reforma.
With 11 brands now sold in the country, Chinese automakers claimed 19.5% of the national market in 2023, a difference of 13.1% compared with 2019. SUVs and minivans were the lionshare of vehicles sold, with top models being the MG 5, the Chirey Tiggo, the Omoda C5 and the JAC Frison.
JAC, which produces the electric vehicles E10X, E J7, E Sei4 Pro, is currently the only Chinese car company with an assembly plant in Mexico, but more are moving in.
Two Chinese car manufacturers, Build Your Dream (BYD) and Solarever Electric Vehicles (SEV), recently announced their plans to establish electric vehicle plants in Mexico. In December, SEV confirmed their Durango plant will start construction in February, whereas BYD is still considering locations.
