From Efe

MEXICO CITY -- A record 1.13 million automobiles were sold in Mexico in 2005, up 3.3 percent from the year before, the Mexican Automotive Industry Association, or AMIA, announced on Tuesday.

Vehicle production rose 6.6 percent in 2005 to 1.6 million cars and light trucks reversing the negative trend of the past four years.

AMIA said in a statement that with the 3.3 percent hike in national car sales last year, the total rise in sales over the past five years comes to 5.9 percent, "which makes our country one of the more outstanding markets" in comparison to others around the world.

Auto sales in Mexico, a country of 107 million people, grew 0.1 percent in December, exports rose 63.5 percent compared to the same month in 2004 and vehicle production increased 33.3 percent.

AMIA attributed the favorable industry results to the country's macroeconomic stability, the falling trend in interest rates, the peso's stability versus the dollar and low inflation, which was just 3.3 percent in 2005.

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