Uncertainty over the future of Nafta and the upcoming presidential elections is discouraging Mexicans from buying new cars.
Sales of cars and light trucks fell 7 percent in May, marking 12 straight months of drops, according to a trade group of the nation’s auto dealers known as AMIA.
All the uncertainty in economic, political and social matters “is being reflected in consumers’ disposition to acquire durable goods in the short term,” said Guillermo Rosales, a top official at AMIA in a press conference Tuesday.
One reassuring thought: Automakers in Mexico mainly depend on the country as a manufacturing platform to supply foreign markets, such as the U.S. In May, Mexico’s production grew 3.9 percent year over year.