Mexico's automotive sector will see a less serious decline in 2020 than previously feared and a "modest" rebound in 2021, though it takes several years to see a full recovery, an industry leader said on Monday.

Fausto Cuevas, general director of the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA), said both the production and export of light vehicles could grow 12 percent in 2021.

"It entails modest growth. We do not expect to reach pre-lockdown figures in 2021. It seems to us that that won't happen... for another three to four years," Cuevas said in a videoconference.

In 2020, the AMIA official estimated that both the production and export of cars could drop by as much as 23 percent, less than the 30 percent plunge forecast at the end of February when the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Mexico's National Institute of Statistics and Geography reported Friday that Mexico's production of light vehicles accumulated a 22.5 percent drop between January and November 2020, while exports fell 23.6 percent in the same period. Enditem