Automobile distribution networks in Mexico: a macro-environmental analysis (2005-2012)

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This work is aimed to study the environment (economic, political, social and ecological) in which 1484 car dealers performs in Mexico and the strategies they develop as a group to overcome threats and take advantage of opportunities. Light vehicles sales in the domestic market began to fall after 2006 when the economy slowed down and credit loans diminished. Sales dropped to 754, 918 units (31%) in the 2009 crisis and the recovery has been very slow, reaching 987,747 units in 2012. The domestic market has not recovered from the economic crisis and it has been impacted by cross-borders flows of used cars. Mexican fleet grew 12 million units from 2005 to 2012 and half of these cars were used old cars coming from the USA. Since the motorization index is still low (276 cars/1000) and new cars sales per each thousand inhabitants were lower (7.9) than other similar countries we studied the environmental factors that are affecting the distribution network in order to understand these results. The research was conducted through qualitative and quantitative analysis of secondary data, identifying and evaluating trends, indicators and patterns. We found economic, political, legal and social variables affecting the dealer’s performance. Light vehicles sales correlated with GDP (.449), consumer confidence (.648) and credit (.621). The house hold spending in car purchases has been declining since 2000, NAFTA is negatively affecting cars dealers and they are changing and diversifying the business model. PAPIIT PROYECT NO. IN303913