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Motor Trend
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Motor Trend
Report: Nissan Closing Two More Production Plants By 2027
With Nissan in dire straits, the Japanese brand has been reaching for every avenue to save itself through the 'Re:Nissan' initiative. Recently, word came down on July 15 that its Oppama plant in Kanagawa, Japan, would shut down and production there would move to Kyushu (in Fukuoka, Japan) by early 2027. Now, a new report suggests is that two of Nissan's Mexico plants will shutter in the same timeframe with no word on where the vehicles built there will be assembled in the future. Nissan plans to close its Civac and COMPAS plants in Mexico by 2027 as part of its "Re:Nissan" initiative to reduce global production sites. The move follows the closure of the Oppama plant in Japan and aims to cut plant numbers from 17 to 10 to avoid financial issues. This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article Read Next The Oppama news sent shockwaves because it was Nissan's flagship plant and builds the Nissan Note and the Aura. Now, as Automotive News reports, the Civac plant located in Morelos and the Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes (COMPAS) plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico, are the next two facilities on the early 2027 chopping block. Civac was the first international plant Nissan had owned and first opened in 1966. According to the Automotive News report, the 60-year-old plant is outdated and would require a large sum of cash to bring it up to date. Currently, this plant is producing the South American version of the Frontier (as the NP300, NP300 Navara, or the NP300 Frontier), the Mexico-only V-Drive based on the N17 Versa, and the current N18 Versa that is sold in the U.S. This isn't the first time that Civac has been rumored to be closing, as there was speculation back in May about its demise, but Nissan denied the rumor then. According to that same Automotive News report, Chinese automotive manufacturers BYD and SAIC are eyeing the plant to gain production capacity in North America. COMPAS, on the other hand, was opened just 10 years ago as a joint venture between Nissan and Mercedes-Benz. This was the plant that produced the Mercedes GLB in 2019, the Infiniti QX50 in 2017, and the QX55 in 2021. All three vehicles are slated to end production with Infiniti pausing new orders on the QX50/55 back in April and production slated to close later this year citing Trump administration tariffs on non-U.S.-built vehicles. The Mercedes GLB will end production in the first quarter of 2026 with a new generation architecture moving to the MMA and rumored to move production to the U.S. We reached out to Nissan to confirm this story, and received this response: 'Under Re:Nissan, Nissan is currently reviewing the integration and closure of some of its global production sites. However, this process has not yet been concluded beyond the three sites that have been announced so far. We are committed to maintaining transparency with our stakeholders and if any decisions are made, we will provide information at the appropriate time.' The three plants Nissan is referring to are the recently announced Oppama plant in Japan, the closing of one Thailand plant by consolidating its two plants in Samat Prakan province, and an unnamed third plant. The goal of Re:Nissan is to reduce its plant count from 17 to 10 to become a solvent company and not risk bankruptcy to reduce its financial burdens.
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Nissan Plans to Shutter Mexican Factories in Cost-Cutting Move
According to a new report from Automotive News, Japanese automotive powerhouse Nissan is planning to reduce its manufacturing capacity in Mexico next year by shuttering two of its plants, including one that was opened as a joint venture with German luxury automaker Mercedes-Benz. Per two sources, Nissan is expected to shut down the Civac plant in Jiutepec, Mexico, no later than March 2027, at the end of its 2026-2027 fiscal year. Like other Japanese automakers, Nissan follows a traditional fiscal year pattern known as nendo (年度), which runs from April 1 to March 31 the following year. In addition, Nissan is reportedly set to end its joint venture with Mercedes on crossover production at the 2.37 million-square-foot COMPAS factory in Aguascalientes, Mexico. According to AutoForecast Solutions, Nissan will end production of two Infiniti crossovers at the plant later this year, while Mercedes will halt GLB production during the first quarter of 2026. Like the soon-to-be-shuttered Oppama plant in Japan, the 4.4-million-square-foot CIVAC factory has some historical provenance with Nissan. The Jiutepec, Mexico, facility has been making cars in Mexico since 1966, just five years after it arrived in the market. In 1972, Nissan started exporting vehicles from Civac, and in the decades since, it has built more than 6 million vehicles and created thousands of jobs in the region. Currently, Nissan produces the Navara and Latin America-market Frontier pickup trucks at the plant. However, data from AutoForecast Solutions shows that the plant is running at less than a third of its capacity, as it made just 80,000 pickups there last year. In 2025, Nissan plans to build 57,000, only a fraction of the 294,000 units it pumped out in 2016. Though the CIVAC plant was its first manufacturing plant outside Japan, according to one of the sources who spoke with Automotive News, the nearly 60-year-old plant is outdated and no longer cost-effective to operate. Another source told AutoNews that the automaker will consolidate production at the plant to two company-owned factories in Aguascalientes. The news of another potential shuttered historical Nissan plant comes on the heels of the announcement of the fate of the historic Oppama plant in Japan, which has been officially declared closed as part of the Re:Nissan restructuring and corporate austerity plan. The plant outside Tokyo has operated since 1961 as Nissan's central facility in Japan and employs about 2,400 employees. However, in a statement dated July 15, the Japanese carmaker said it will cease production by March 2028, at the end of the fiscal year 2027. As part of the Re:Nissan plan, the automaker is expected to shut down seven of its factories and reduce its bloated manufacturing capacity by nearly 30 percent to 2.5 million vehicles by the 2027 fiscal year. Plants in Japan, India, Argentina, Thailand, and South Africa are also expected to close. In a statement to AutoNews, Nissan spokesperson Brian Brockman said the moves aren't final just yet. "However, this process has not yet been concluded," Brockman said. "If any decisions are made, we will provide information at the appropriate time." Over the years, the CIVAC plant has produced many significant Nissan models, including the Datsun Bluebird, the Versa, the Sentra, the B13 Sentra-based Tsuru, and even the Nissan NV200 Taxi, which was made for a New York City pilot project. While this move comes as the Re:Nissan plan seeks to eliminate its unprofitable corners, it comes at the same time as the Trump administration lays down its tariffs on imported cars. As I mentioned previously, Nissan must overcome more than low sales and a bloated production capacity to save itself; it still has to play ball in its largest market, the United States. The Trump administration has currently imposed a 25% tariff on cars made in Mexico and has threatened to raise tariffs to 30% starting August 1. In response to these tariffs, Nissan has paused production of less profitable trims of the Sentra and Kicks for the U.S. market and plans to discontinue U.S. sales of the Versa next year. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Reuters
17-05-2025
- Automotive
- Reuters
Nissan plans two plant closures in Japan, Yomiuri says
TOKYO, May 17 (Reuters) - Nissan (7201.T), opens new tab is preparing plans to shut two car assembly plants in Japan and considering closing two factories in Mexico, as the automaker restructures, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Saturday. Nissan said in a statement on its website that recent reports on the potential closure of certain plants were speculative and not based on any official information of the company. "At this time, we will not be providing further comments on this matter," Nissan said in the statement. "We are committed to maintaining transparency with our stakeholders and will communicate any relevant updates as necessary." Yomiuri said the factories in Japan that would be closed were the Oppama plant, where Nissan started production in 1961, and the Shonan plant operated by Nissan Shatai, in which Nissan is a 50% stakeholder. Overseas, Nissan is considering ending production at plants in South Africa, India and Argentina, and closing two factories in Mexico, according to Yomiuri, citing unnamed sources. Japan's third-biggest automaker unveiled sweeping new cost cuts earlier this week, saying it would reduce its workforce by around 15% and cut production plants to 10 from 17 globally as it seeks to push through a turnaround. In its statement on Saturday, Nissan said it had previously announced it would consolidate production of Nissan Frontier and Navara pickups from Mexico and Argentina into a single production hub centralised around the Civac plant in Mexico. It also said that it had announced in March that French alliance partner Renault ( opens new tab would buy out its stake in their joint Indian business, Renault Nissan Automotive India Private Ltd (RNAIPL). The domestic plant closures would mark Nissan's first since closing its Murayama factory in 2001, Yomiuri said. The Oppama plant has annual capacity of around 240,000 cars and employed about 3,900 workers as of end-October. In 2010, it became Nissan's first plant to start production of the Leaf, widely considered the world's first mass-market electric vehicle. The Shonan plant, which produces commercial vans, has an annual capacity of around 150,000 units and employs about 1,200 people, according to Yomiuri.
