USA: Year-to-date NA vehicle production 6% ahead of last year – Ward’s

Vehicle production this week in the US, Canada and Mexico is expected to hit an estimated 240,956 units, down from the 361,058 cars and trucks built last week, according to Ward’s Automotive Reports. But production this week will be adversely affected by public holidays.

Including this week’s estimates, calendar year North American output now totals 15,643,456 vehicles, up 6.0 percent from like-2001’s pace.

In the US, carmakers are expected to produce 159,652 vehicles this week, down 41.2 percent from the 271,594 cars and trucks built last week. To date, calendar 2002 US vehicle output totals an estimated 11,460,671 units, up 7.9 percent from the 10,623,674 vehicles built in like-2001.

This week’s Canadian vehicle production is estimated at 43,465, a 25.7 percent decrease from the 58,493 units assembled last week. Estimated calendar-2002 Canadian vehicle production now stands at 2,489,648 units, up 3.1 percent compared to the 2,415,495 vehicles produced in like-2001.

Of the cars and trucks slated for production this week in the US, General Motors Corp. accounted for 33.3 percent; Ford Motor Co., 28.2 percent; Chrysler of DaimlerChrysler, 14.6 percent; Honda of America Mfg. Inc., 6.4 percent; Toyota Motor Mfg. Inc., 5.1 percent; Nissan Motor Mfg. Corp., 3.0 percent; New United Motor Mfg. Inc., 2.9 percent; Subaru-Isuzu Automotive Inc., 0.8 percent; Mitsubishi Motor Mfg. of America Inc., 1.6 percent; AutoAlliance International Inc., 0.8 percent; Mercedes-Benz U.S. of DaimlerChrysler, 0.7 percent; BMW of North America Inc., 1.1 percent; and other manufacturers, 1.5 percent.