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Mexican Class 8 truck production accelerates further
Year-to-date production exceeds 2025 for first time
A worker at International's Escobedo Assembly Plant in Mexico. (International Motors)
Key Takeaways:
- Mexican commercial vehicle production doubled year over year in August to 16,389 trucks and buses as U.S. freight demand increased.
- Year-to-date output reached 101,940 vehicles, exceeding 2025’s pace for the first time, while August exports rose 116.7% to 14,130.
- Volvo Group plans to ramp up Volvo and Mack truck production in Monterrey, while International is considering a second shift in San Antonio.
Class 8 truck manufacturers with Mexican plants accelerated production and exports further in August as demand continues to ramp up in the United States on the back of the rebound in the freight market, federal data shows.
Year-to-date production of commercial vehicles exceeded the pace set in 2025 for the first time in the eighth month of the year, according to data released Sept. 9 by Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography.
Overall, Mexican commercial vehicle production in August totaled 16,389 trucks and buses, up 100.2% year on year, INEGI said. Production also jumped 24.9% month on month from 13,117 vehicles in July.
Production through the first eight months of 2026 totaled 101,940 trucks, up 2.6% compared with 99,311 in the same period 12 months earlier, marking the first month in which year-to-date output topped the 2025 figure.
Freightliner built 10,240 trucks in August, an increase of 133.1% compared with 4,393 trucks in the year-ago period. The total was 14% higher than July’s output figure for the Daimler Truck North America division’s Saltillo and Santiago Tianguistenco plants. The company built 8,984 trucks at the two plants in July.
INEGI data also showed Freightliner exports soared 151.4% year over year to 10,073 trucks in August from 4,007 trucks.
The United States accounts for more than 90% of Mexican truck and bus exports each month.
International Motors produced 4,525 trucks in the most recent month at its Escobedo plant, a 100.8% increase from 2,253 vehicles in August 2025.
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Paccar’s Kenworth built 1,087 trucks in August at its Mexicali plant, an 8.5% rise compared with 1,002 trucks in the year-ago period.
Freightliner, International and Kenworth accounted for 15,852, or 96.7%, of the 16,389 heavy-duty vehicles built in Mexico in August.
Mexican truck and bus exports totaled 14,130 vehicles in August, a year-on-year increase of 116.7%.
Demand in the United States continues to grow in parallel with the freight market rebound, with International considering adding a second shift at its San Antonio assembly plant, while DTNA unveiled plans Aug. 6 to start building its largest U.S. manufacturing site by the end of 2026.
Before then though, output at Volvo Group’s Monterrey manufacturing plant in Mexico will continue to ramp up manufacturing of Volvo- and Mack-branded trucks.
Volvo Group is the last major North American truck maker to begin building vehicles in Mexico, where it already builds buses. Output from the Monterrey plant has yet to show up in the INEGI figures.
Sweden-based Volvo expects the Monterrey plant to offer flexibility to meet its North American divisions’ needs during freight market peaks, something its existing capacity is unable to do.
