Incentives Have Helped to Spur On Vehicle Sales and Overall 2002 Production
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| U.S., Canadian and Mexican vehicle production is up 5.7% compared to 2001. |
As of the week prior to Christmas, vehicle production in Canada, Mexico and the United States was expected to reach 322,920 units, down from the 364,195 cars, trucks, vans and crossovers built the week before, according to Ward's Automotive Reports. Still, that puts the year's total output up to 16,692,856 vehicles, 5.7% higher than at this time in 2001.
And how do the production numbers compare from country to country? Total 2002 U.S. vehicle output are estimated at 12,246,332 vehicles, an increase of 7.5% from the 11,391,756 units built in 2001. Canada is estimated to produce 2,649,986 new vehicles in by the end of the year, which ups its output by 3.1% compared to the year before, at 2,570,781 units.
While positive overall, analysts are concerned the year's progress was mostly due to aggressive incentive programs, that will inevitably come back to haunt automakers.