Dealers in Mexico sold 137,438 new light vehicles in Oct 2026, up 3.1% from Oct 2025, according to preliminary figures INEGI published on 4 Nov 2026. From Jan to Oct, sales reached 1,287,268 units, up 4.8% from a year earlier and the highest total for those ten months in INEGI's monthly series, which starts in 2005.
New light vehicles sold in Mexico, Jan to Oct, 2016 to 2026
Millions of units; 2026 preliminary
Ten months against the record
The previous high for Jan to Oct was set in 2016, with 1,259,645 vehicles; this year's count is 2.2% above it, by our arithmetic. The low point of the last decade came in 2020, when the pandemic cut the ten-month total to 748,753. Sales have risen every year since: 834,486 in 2021, 873,657 in 2022, 1,090,573 in 2023, 1,210,844 in 2024 and 1,228,108 in 2025.
Nine of the ten months of 2026 sold more than the same month of 2025. The exception was Feb, which fell short by 334 vehicles.
Oct was also the best month of 2026 so far. In INEGI's series, the last two months have tended to be the strongest: in 2025, Nov sold 149,024 vehicles and Dec 155,316. If Nov and Dec 2026 only matched those counts, the year would close at about 1.59 million, by our arithmetic, just short of the full-year record of 1,607,165 set in 2016.
What the count covers
The figure counts new cars, SUVs and light trucks sold to the public in Mexico, whether made in the country or imported. It comes from the companies in INEGI's register, 22 members of the industry association AMIA and eight others, covering 44 brands. These are administrative records, not a survey: the companies revise them, and INEGI marks the Oct figure as preliminary. MOTORNATION leaves the register from Nov 2026, and GAC joins with figures back to Jan 2024, so future releases may shift the comparison slightly.
Showrooms up, plants down
The home market's strength contrasts with the plants. In INEGI's last full report, published on 7 Oct 2026, light-vehicle production fell 15.1% in Sep, to 301,803 units, and exports fell 11.9%, to 277,369. From Jan to Sep, production was 2.4% lower than a year earlier, at 2,946,943 vehicles, and exports 1.5% lower, at 2,528,623; 76.4% of those exports went to the USA.
Mexico builds far more vehicles than it buys. In 2025, its plants made about 2.6 light vehicles for every new one sold at home, by our arithmetic from INEGI's annual totals. That helps explain how a sales record and a slide in output can happen in the same year: the plants answer mostly to buyers in the USA and Canada, the showrooms to buyers in Mexico.
INEGI publishes Oct production and exports on 9 Nov 2026, and Nov sales on 2 Dec 2026. The long record: why-mexico.com.
Sources
- INEGI, RAIAVL sales advance, October 2026 (bulletin 680/26), 4 Nov 2026
- INEGI, RAIAVL report, September 2026 (bulletin 618/26), 7 Oct 2026
- INEGI, light vehicles: sales, production and exports, 2005-2026 (table), 5 Nov 2026
- INEGI, RAIAVL program page (release dates), 5 Nov 2026
- Wikipedia, Automotive industry in Mexico (context), 5 Nov 2026
Figures checked at their original sources on 5 Nov 2026. See an error? Corrections.