Car sales from China had grown by 103% in 2021, 128.4% in 2022 and 51.4% in 2023. In 2024, sales slowed down and reached 9.8%.
After positioning itself as the leading supplier of imported light vehicles sold in Mexico since 2022, China maintained that position in 2024, but slowed its growth rate amid customer satisfaction challenges for its brands and growing scrutiny of Chinese products due to trade tensions between that country and the United States.
In 2024, sales of new cars from China in Mexico grew 9.8% to 302,837 units, representing 20.2% of the total light vehicles sold in the country, practically the same figure as in 2023, according to figures reported last week by the National Institute of Geography and Statistics (Inegi).
Car sales from China had grown by 103% in 2021, 128.4% in 2022 and 51.4% in 2023. In 2017, its share of the Mexican market was still just 0.3 percent.
This explosive growth is explained by two factors. The first is the substitution of Mexican products for Chinese ones by General Motors, the brand with the second largest sales volume in the Mexican market, after Nissan.
Starting in 2018, Chevrolet, the main brand of the American company, began replacing its best-selling products, the Aveo and Sonic subcompacts and the Trax SUV, which were assembled in Mexico, with units imported from China.
The new Aveo began to be imported from the Asian country, while the Sonic left the market and its place was taken by the Onix model, which was briefly produced at the company's plant in San Luis Potosí (SLP), but since 2022 it has been imported from China. Meanwhile, the Trax, also produced in SLP, made way for the Groove and Captiva SUVs, brought from the Asian country.
All of these new products (the new Aveo, the Onyx, the Groove and the Captiva) are produced by the Chinese brand SAIC Motors - the parent company of MG Motor - and are the result of an alliance it has with General Motors.
Since 2018, General Motors has been the brand that sells the most vehicles assembled in China in Mexico.
"Do you know which brand imports the most vehicles from China to Mexico? It is the American company General Motors," recalled Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Economy, during his participation in the Seminar on Economic Perspectives 2025 organized by the Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) on Friday.
Since his election campaign, Donald Trump has been a harsh critic of Chinese car imports and the possibility that a Chinese company might build a plant on Mexican territory to export from there to the United States under the rules of the Mexico-United States-Canada Treaty.
Chinese brands, the other engine
The second factor that has driven the increase in imports of cars assembled in China has been the arrival of brands from that country.
From 2020 to date, numerous brands have arrived, including MG Motor, Chirey, Omoda, Changan, Great Wall Motor and Jetour, just to mention those that already report their sales to Inegi and that last year imported almost 116,000 units, that is, four out of every 10 cars imported from China.
A handful of other brands, including BYD, Geely, Zeekr, GAC, Bestune and the recently announced Dongfeng, have not yet reported their sales to the statistics institute, despite being urged to do so by their competitors in the name of transparency and more balanced competition.
Quality, challenge
Another challenge for new Asian brands, aside from the scrutiny of their growing influence in the country in the run-up to the review of the USMCA in 2026, in which the role of Chinese investment will be under scrutiny, is the satisfaction of Mexican customers.
A report by specialist firm JD Power released in early December revealed that Chinese vehicle brands were rated by consumers as having the most quality problems.
The most frequently reported faults were found in infotainment systems, the powertrain and advanced driving aids.
According to the Automotive Performance and Design Study 2024 (APEAL) section of the Vehicle Quality and Dependability Study SM (VDS) conducted by JD Power, Chinese brands lagged behind the rest of the automakers with 812 points for dealer service experience, followed by French and Korean brands.
Japanese brands had the highest satisfaction rating among consumers, with 907 points.
