It’s a given Mexico’s been building a strong automotive manufacturing foundation over the years, and with many US and European firms already there, and the many Chinese companies rushing in, their home market appears to be positioned to explode – in a good way. Even now, it has about 20% more brands1 on sale than in the US, all vying for a growing and very accessible market. And that trend appears to be continuing.
From a subjective, unavoidably American perspective: One in-person look at wide variety of motoring options on the busy streets in any of the large cities will have you repeating, “What the heck is that?!” But the metrics reveal real potential.
The US market is clearly much larger – 15.9 million units sold in the US vs. 1.5 million units sold in Mexico in 2024 – but the dynamics have created a markedly different product landscape that, depending on a whack of factors like politics, regulations, and relative economics, could diverge into a veritable cornucopia of really interesting, very different vehicles.
In addition, there is the relative populations – Mexico’s at ~133 million vs. America’s at ~340 million – and per capita income – Mexico is $14,000 vs. US at $84590 – that continue to drive a product landscape with very different priorities.
But gearheads will be gearheads! Whatever they have access to is what they will embrace. A look at the photos here shows just how diverse Mexico is: old American “project cars” and VW air-coolers, to the latest @MGs and relative newcomers like @GAC (more on this dynamic company later).
With all the recent manufacturing activity and the relatively low barriers to entry, Mexico could develop into not only one of the most interesting enthusiast markets, but one that caters to a very broad range of people and budgets.
What happens in Mexico over the next few years will surely influence global markets as they pack more innovation and fun into truly affordable packages of all shapes, sizes, and motive power. This is an important market to watch.
- Based on Google search results from at least two dozen different sources, our limited ability to gather the most recent numbers, and particularly from just one or two trusted sources, indicate there are about 42 brands for sale in the US, and about 58 brands for sale in Mexico. The numbers feel comfortably close to what’s actually out there, but we’ll bet Mexico’s are most likely a shade larger, mostly because of a spate of recent activity from Chinese manufacturers and distributors. ↩︎
