Nissan to Invest $45M to Prep for Production of New Subcompact

19 July 2005

Nissan’s March will share its chassis with the new subcompact.

Nikkei. Nissan is investing some US $45 million to upgrade its Mexican production facilities to increase output and to prepare for the launch of its planned 1.5-liter fuel-efficient subcompact.

In January, Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn announced that the company will produce and sell a new compact car with in North America, possibly in 2006. The new car will use the chassis from the popular March model sold in Japan and a 1.5-liter engine, possibly the new HR15DE, co-developed with Renault. (Earlier post.)

Nissan’s Mexican car and truck plants currently produce some 300,000 and 100,000 vehicles respectively per year. Nissan will expand the welding line at the passenger car plant and extend factory operating hours as a way to boost annual output capacity by 33% to 400,000 vehicles.

The additional capacity will be used to produce the subcompact—i.e., some 100,000 units per year.