UPDATE 2-Mexico May auto output up 0.7 pct from year ago

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MEXICO CITY, June 10 (Reuters) - Mexican auto production edged up 0.7 percent in May versus the same month a year ago while exports rose 7.2 percent despite an economic slowdown in the United States, industry group AMIA said on Tuesday.

Mexico produced 178,418 vehicles and exported 150,506 in the month, most of them to the United States, AMIA said.

Many economists worry the U.S. slowdown will harm Mexican exporters, but AMIA President Eduardo Solis said it was still too early to tell how it will affect the Mexican car industry.

U.S. auto sales tumbled in May as consumers spurned pickup trucks and SUVs in the face of record gasoline prices.

"There is, without doubt, an element of uncertainty present in the United States economy," Solis told reporters.

Many of Mexico's top export models, like the Nissan Sentra, Volkswagen Bora and the Ford Fusion, are compact or mid-sized.

Economists worry troubles in the U.S. credit and housing markets could push the U.S. economy into recession this year.

Industrial production is a mainstay of the Mexican economy and is highly correlated to U.S. economic activity. Economists polled by the central bank last month forecast economic growth this year of 2.6 percent, down from 3.2 percent in 2007.

Mexican auto production edged up 2.2 percent in 2007, capped by slowing U.S. demand. (Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by James Dalgleish)