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Mexican Truck Production, Exports to U.S. Continue to Rise
May Commercial Vehicle Production Climbs 18.2% Versus April
Key Takeaways:
- Mexico produced 14,543 heavy-duty vehicles in May, up 18.2% from April and driven by gains at major truck manufacturers.
- Class 8 truck orders rose 103% year over year in May, following a 201% increase in April.
- Year-to-date production remains down 17.32% compared with 2025 despite recent monthly growth.
Truck and bus manufacturers built 14,543 heavy-duty vehicles in Mexico in May, an 18.2% jump compared with 12,306 in April, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography.
The increase extends a recovery in Mexican production and exports of Class 8 trucks to the United States fueled by output increases at all Daimler Truck North America, International Motors and Paccar facilities.
As production and exports increase, the data adds to growing evidence that a sustained recovery in the North America freight market is flourishing.
Class 8 North American truck orders jumped 103% year over year in May to 26,500 trucks, according to preliminary ACT Research data, after soaring 201% in April.
DTNA’s Freightliner unit, International and Paccar’s Kenworth division produced a combined 13,878 trucks in Mexico in May, accounting for 95.4% of all commercial vehicles built in the country in the month. The three truck makers’ Mexican plants produced a combined 11,755 vehicles in April.
Freightliner’s Saltillo and Santiago Tianguistenco plants built 9,348 trucks in May, a 14% year-over-year increase compared with 8,203 trucks in the same month in 2025 and a 16.8% jump compared with 8,006 trucks in April.
International’s Escobedo plant built 3,519 trucks in the most recent month, a 20.7% rise compared with 2,915 in April but down 20.4% year over year from 4,419 in May 2025.
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Capacity at the Escobedo facility declined in April 2025 when a second shift at the plant was axed, with 900 employees losing their jobs.
Production at Kenworth’s Mexicali plant rose 21.2% month on month to 1,011 from 834 trucks but was down 23.2% compared with 1,316 trucks in May 2025.
Some 55,614 heavy-duty trucks were produced in Mexico in the first five months of 2026, down 17.32% compared with 67,267 in the same period a year earlier.
April’s output was the first year-over-year increase in production since November 2024.
A total of 11,938 commercial vehicles produced in Mexico were exported to the U.S. in May, up 18.9% compared with 10,042 vehicles in April and 12.3% compared with 10,625 trucks and buses in March.
Freightliner exports, meanwhile, rose by 10.7% year over year to 8,775 trucks in the most recent month from 7,928 vehicles in May 2025 and jumped 15.9% month on month.
That came after exports from the DTNA division rose 30.9% year over year in April to 7,590 trucks from 5,797 vehicles in the prior-year period.
