Covid-19 impact: Mexico, Brazil see 99% plunge in auto production in April

In normal times, the combined number of cars produced by Mexico and Brazil every month is half a million

Auto production in Mexico and Brazil, Latin America's top producers, plunged by an unprecedented 99 per cent in April as a result of the coronavirus crisis, with the two countries building a total of just 5,569 vehicles.

During normal times, Mexico and Brazil produce over half a million cars a month combined. The industry accounts for hundreds of thousands of jobs and several percentage points of their respective countries' gross domestic products.

"The situation is difficult and dramatic," Luiz Carlos Moraes, president of Brazil's automakers association, told reporters.

The statements on production, made on Friday by Mexico's Inegi statistics association and