The Secretary of the Navy (Semar) revealed that in the first two -month period of this year there was a 37 percent drop in vehicle export services from the ports of Veracruz, Tuxpan, Altamira, Lázaro Cárdenas and Mazatlan.
Between January and February 2025, more than 139 thousand 561 cars were embarked from the ports of the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, when in the same period of last year more than 223 thousand 065 vehicles of the Mexican market to the world came out.
Lee: United Kingdom asks Mexico to ratify transpacific agreement
The port of Mazatlan had a 79 percent drop in car shipments for export to the outside, while the Tuxpan port terminal had a 50 percent collapse in the services of sale of vehicles abroad between January and February 2025.
The Veracruz port terminal registered a 40 percent decrease in vehicle exports, the port of Lázaro Cárdenas had a decrease of 34 percent of the services and Altamira reported a decrease of 33 percent in the first bimester.
From Mexican ports they are embarked for commercialization in the United States and Latin America. In 2024, shipowners with operations in Mexico exported 79.7 percent of vehicles to the United States, a nation that charges tariffs on vehicles that do not comply with TMEC rules.
In its plants in Mexico, General Motors manufactures the Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Blazer EV models for the United States market. The same does Ford, which produces the Ford Bronco Sport, Ford Maverick and Mustang Mach-E in the country.
Stellantis manufactures the RAM 1500 and the Jeep Compass, Toyota Produce Tacoma and Hilux, Honda manufacturing the HR-V, Br- and motorcycles, Nissan assembles El Versa, March and Kicks in the Mexican market.
Volkswagen produces Jetta, Taos and Tiguan, Audio assembles the Q5, BMW manufactures series 3, series 2 Coupé, Mercedes-Benz manufacturing the infiniti qx50 and Mercedes Benz class A (a project already concluded).
KIA MANUFACTURA EL FORTE AND RIVER, HYUNDAI produces the acternity, Mazda manufactures Mazda 2, Mazda 3 and the CX-30, and Jac Motors assemble J7, E10X, T8 and the Pickup Frison T6.
Lee: Every time they launch a rocket from the Starbase in Texas there are sales by 20 MDP in Matamoros
Exports will have an instability for this year by the commercial war unleashed by Donald Trump, president of the United States, said José Ignacio Martínez Cortés, coordinator of the Laboratory of Analysis in Commerce, Economics and Business (Lancen).
“When exports decrease, as is the case after the imposition of tariffs, an economic contraction is generated that affects both the external and internal market,” said the professor of the UNAM International Relations Center.
He added that this reduction in economic activity causes companies to see lower profitability, which leads to a decrease in private investment.
The possible effects for Mexico are significant: “In the first place, a reduction in exports is anticipated if vehicles assembled in Mexico become more expensive for US consumers,” emphasized the Department of Economy, Administration and Merchantology Iteso Jesuit University of Guadalajara.
He recalled that the collection of tariffs on cars manufactured in Mexico, which fail to comply with the TMEC, affects mid or low -end models, where the margins are reduced.
“Secondly, foreign direct investment in the sector could decrease, since automotive would reconsider the viability of expanding operations in Mexican territory against tariff risk.”
To this is added a potential impact on employment in key regions such as Guanajuato, Coahuila, Aguascalientes or San Luis Potosí, where the automotive industry is an economic engine, says ITESO.
Vehicle imports fall
Vehicle imports from Asia to Mexican ports fell more than 2.89 percent in the first bimester of the year.
During the first 2025 bimester, the ports of Mazatlan, Manzanillo, Veracruz, Altamira and Lázaro Cárdenas received 129 thousand 169 cars from countries such as China and India, when the same period last year arrived 133 thousand 023 vehicles to those port terminals.
It is striking that the 22 percent imported increase registered in the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, the natural entrance for the arrival of China’s cars.
Lee: Marías Islands seeks to reverse tourism fall
The landing of Chinese brands in the Mexican market had brought to record levels the import of cars in the ports of Manzanillo, Mazatlan and Lázaro Cárdenas in 2024.
Even that phenomenon caused port operators to build courtyards to park the thousands of Chinese vehicles, which end in different cities of the Mexican Republic.
