Auto Production: Mexico Keeps Winning

The volume of light vehicle assemblies in the U.S. and Canada is declining at more than 15 percent per year as Mexico’s volume is increasing by 7.7 percent, according to the latest Steel Market Update analysis of auto production in the NAFTA region.

U.S. Vehicle Sales: U.S. new-vehicle sales surged in September to 18.6 million units. This was the highest since July 2005 and a 5.5 percent increase year over year. Economy.com had this to say: “The same factors that dampened sales in September helped vehicle sales surge in September. New-vehicle sales posted their first year-over-year gain for 2017, fueled in large part by replacement vehicles from Hurricane Harvey. Dealerships were bustling in the south-central region of the country, including Houston, where vehicle sales jumped 14 percent compared with last September, according to JD Power. Even so, sales were somewhat lower for Irma-stricken Florida because the storm hit during September. The resurgence in sales caused by Hurricane Irma will likely carry over into October, but will certainly be smaller. According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, around 297,000 auto insurance claims had been filed because of Harvey and an additional 128,000 were filed related to Irma.”