Nissan to Make 3 Small Infiniti Models at a Mexico Plant

laht.com

TOKYO – Nissan Motor Co. will manufacture three small Infiniti luxury vehicles at the plant it is jointly building with Germany’s Daimler in the north-central Mexican state of Aguascalientes, Japanese daily Nikkei reported on Friday.

The first of the three models – the Infiniti Q30 Hatchback – will be manufactured when the plant starts operating in 2017, while two other small Infinitis, including a compact sport utility vehicle, will begin to roll of the assembly line in 2020, Nissan’s chief planning officer & executive vice president, Andy Palmer, told the newspaper.

The Japanese automaker plans to export all three models globally.

The luxury Infiniti brand currently is limited to a large sedan and a big SUV, but the popularity of small luxury vehicles manufactured by Mercedes-Benz and Audi has prompted Nissan to follow suit.

The Renault-Nissan Alliance and German automaker Daimler announced in June that they were expanding their partnership – launched four years ago – with the construction of the Aguascalientes factory, saying they would produce luxury compact vehicles at that facility.

Renault-Nissan and Daimler said the plant will have the capacity to produce 300,000 vehicles annually and that nearly 5,700 jobs will have been created once the plant reaches full capacity in approximately 2021.