Mexico's automotive and truck industry suppliers are stepping up their sales to the aftermarket as business with the original equipment makers plummets.
“In times of crisis, the aftermarket is king,” said Agustín Ríos, president of the Mexican suppliers' association INA.
The aftermarket in Mexico is worth US$9 billion and has been growing by 3-4 percent per year in recent years, he said: “And it could start growing even faster.”
Meanwhile, auto parts suppliers' sales to carmakers are likely to be down 20 percent in Mexico this year, he said. According to Ríos, the Mexican market for automotive and truck parts and components is $50 billion, of which 60 percent is produced in Mexico.
Seventy percent of the total is exported, either in finished vehicles or for carmakers in the Americas, Europe and Asia.
Ríos said the opportunities offered by the national aftermarket was scheduled to be among themes at this year's INA-organized International Congress of the Automotive Industry in Mexico, held July 13-15 in Mexico City.
The Industria Nacional de Autopartes AC, or INA, has staged the event annually for the past seven years. This year's congress coincided with the PAACE Automechanika México suppliers' exhibition at the same Centro Banamex venue in Mexico City.
“We all know that all crises come to an end. We've lived through many in Mexico and have survived every one of them,” Ríos said. INA's 235 member companies account for up to 70 percent of Mexico's component and parts production in dollar terms, according to Ríos.
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