Mexico May 2021: First podium for the Kia Rio in market up 103.8%

The Kia Rio is up to #3 in Mexico in May. Picture autocosmos.com.mx

The Mexican new light vehicle market bounces back up 103.8% year-on-year to 85.662 units due to covid-impacted year-ago volumes. The year-to-date tally is now up 14.6% to 428.312. However May 2021 volumes remain below pre-pandemic levels in May 2019 at -16.1% for the month and -19.5% year-to-date. Nissan (+95.6%) trails the market slightly but remains the runaway leader with 20% share vs. 21.3% so far this year. Chevrolet (+105.3%) almost matches the market to remain in 2nd place, also with a market share lower than year-to-date at 13.2% vs. 14.1%. Volkswagen (+176.6%) signs the largest gain in the Top 13 and advances to 10.3% share whereas Toyota (+71.2%) underperforms in 4th place. In the remainder of the Top 10, Suzuki (+145.4%), Kia (+139.9%) and Hyundai (+127.9%) shine but Ford (+15.9%), Mazda (+66.4%) and Honda (+86.4%) disappoint. Further down, Fiat (+414.8%), Volvo (+307.8%), Peugeot (+282.1%), Audi (+226.5%), Subaru (+171.2%), Seat (+162%), JAC (+153.8%) and Jeep (+140.1%) make themselves noticed.

The Nissan Versa (+99.8%) and Pickup (+93.2%) remain on top of the models ranking at 7% and 5.7% share respectively, in line with their YTD level. The Kia Rio (+204.9%) takes full advantage of its facelift and triples its sales year-on-year to leap into third place with 3.8% share. These are new ranking and share records and mark the first podium finish for the nameplate in Mexico. The Chevrolet Aveo (+194.5%) and Beat (+65.7%) are both knocked down one spot to #4 and #5 respectively. The Hyundai Grand i10 (+487.1%), Nissan Sentra (+425.5%), Honda CR-V (+297.1%) and VW Vento (+178.7%) also post strong gains in the remainder of the Top 10. The VW Taos misses a first Top 10 finish for just 35 sales and tops all recent launches (<12 months) at #11, distancing the Chevrolet Tracker (#16) and the Chevrolet Captiva aka Baojun 530 up 13 spots on last month to #29. Notice also the Cupra Formentor up 50 ranks to #101 and the Ford Bronco landing at #281.

Previous month: Mexico April 2021: Market up 139.5% on 2020 but down -14.8% on 2019

One year ago: Mexico May 2020: Toyota (-35.6%), Mercedes (-38.2%) fare best in market collapsing -59%

Full May 2021 Top 40 All-brands and Top 290 All-models below.