Since the 1980s Mexico has been engaged in the design, development and production of wheeled light armoured vehicles for the home market.

It was originally believed that these were based on foreign designs, especially from the US, but recent information has indicated that these have all been designed, developed and manufactured in Mexico.

The confusion has been caused largely by the use of the designation DN, plus a numerical suffix, for the members of a widely varied family of light wheeled AFVs.

These vehicles have been developed since 1967, under the leadership of the Mexican Department of National Industry (DINA). In the designation the DN stands for Defense Nacional.

The first two armoured vehicles developed were designated the DN-I and DN-II, but it is understood that these never passed the prototype stage.

These were followed in 1979 by the DN-III, which is similar in appearance to the then Cadillac Gage (now Textron Marine & Land Systems) V-100 (subsequently renamed the LAV-100) series of 4 × 4 light armoured vehicles.

A total of 24 of these were built in the early 1980s under the designation DN-III or the SEDENA 1000. It is believed that these were based on a US-designed Dodge 4 × 4 truck chassis with the diesel engine being mounted at the rear.

Fitted on the roof was a turret with an externally mounted 7.62 mm machine gun which is very similar to that fitted to the Swiss MOWAG Roland (4 × 4) armoured personnel carrier. Production of this vehicle was completed many years ago, and details are given in a separate entry under Switzerland.