Mexico: 1954-2023 Historical Data now available
The VW Beetle is estimated to have been #1 in Mexico from 1954 to 1990, then topped the local charts in 1991, 1993 and 1996. Picture by Lamazone.
15 years worth of complete brands and models data for Mexico have now been added through 11 new and 2 updated articles covering the 1991-2006 period, making it an uninterrupted 30 years of official Mexican Historical Data available on this site through 29 articles.
Mexico being the last country in the world where the legendary first generation VW Beetle was produced (up until 2002), it is only fitting that it was also the last country where it topped annual sales: in 1996 after also leading the way in 1991 and 1993 – and most probably from its introduction into the country in 1954 up to 1990, although we don’t have any official data to support this.
The Nissan Tsuru led Mexican sales for 15 years between 1992 and 2010.
Mexico is the only country in the world where Nissan is the #1 brand, and it has been the case without interruption since 2003. Helping Nissan’s domination was the Tsuru, a stripped back third generation 1991 Sentra that was particularly successful with taxi companies and remained in Nissan’s catalogue until 2017: it topped the Mexican sales charts no less than 15 times between 1991 and 2010. The VW Gol is called Pointer here and topped the charts in 2003, the Chevrolet Chevy C2 based on the 1993 Opel Corsa was the best-seller in 2004, a facelifted 1999 VW Bora, the VW Clasico, was #1 in 2011, the Chevrolet Aveo was the country’s favourite from 2012 to 2015, the Nissan Versa was the best-seller from 2016 to 2021 before the Kia Rio took the relay in 2022.
The Chevrolet Chevy C2 was #1 in Mexico in 2004.
Mexico Historical Data:
Mexico 1954-1990: VW Beetle brings the car to the masses (new)
Mexico 1991: VW Beetle best-seller (new)
Mexico 1992: Nissan Tsuru beats VW Beetle to #1 (new)
Mexico 1993: Beetle reclaims top spot, Volkswagen above 30% share (new)
Mexico 1994: Nissan Tsuru back on top, Chevrolet Joy and Chrysler Neon start with a bang (new)
Mexico 1995: Nissan overtakes Volkswagen to #1 in imploding market (-70.4%) (new)
Mexico 1996: Last win for the VW Beetle in recovering market (+75.9%) (new)
Mexico 1997-1998: Chevrolet new #1 brand, Nissan Tsuru reclaims top models spot in record market (new)
Mexico 1999-2000: Nissan Tsuru and Chevrolet Joy/Swing top record market (new)
Mexico 2002: Chevrolet back to #1, Nissan Platina lands at #5 in record market just below 1 million (new)
Mexico 2003: VW Pointer ends Nissan Tsuru domination (updated)
Mexico 2004: Chevrolet Chevy C2 soars to top spot in first millionaire year (updated)
Mexico 2005-2006: Nissan Tsuru and Chevrolet Chevy C2 dominate record market at 1.2m units (new)
Mexico 2007: Nissan Tsuru & Chevrolet Chevy above 5%
Mexico 2008: Tsuru, Chevy & Jetta still on top
Mexico 2009: Nissan Tsuru #1 for 6th year in a row, Chevrolet Aveo #3
Mexico 2010: Nissan Tsuru invincible
Mexico 2011: VW Clasico ends Nissan Tsuru’s 7 year-reign
Mexico 2012: Chevrolet Aveo and Nissan Versa take control
Mexico 2013: Chevrolet Aveo and Clasico on top
Mexico 2014: Chevrolet Aveo leads, VW Vento shines, Hyundai lands
Mexico 2015: 12 months of records lead market up 19%
Mexico 2016: Record market pounces up 18.6% above 1.6m units
Mexico 2017: Kia and Hyundai break records, Nissan Versa #1
Mexico 2018: Nissan Versa challenged by Chevrolet Aveo, Kia breaks records again
Mexico 2021: Nissan and Versa maintain grip on market up 6.8%
Mexico 2022: Nissan survives Chevrolet assault, Kia Rio topples Nissan Versa to #1
