Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler expand cooperation with new plant in Mexico

The Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler AG are significantly expanding their cooperation with joint development of premium compact vehicles and joint production in Mexico.

Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche announced
that their companies have agreed to establish a 50:50 joint-venture, the business entity that will oversee construction and operation of the new plant in Aguascalientes in north-central Mexico. The new plant will be built in the immediate vicinity of an already existing Nissan plant and will have an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles when fully ramped up.

Start of production is planned for 2017 with Infiniti models. The production of Mercedes-Benz brand vehicles will follow in 2018.

Daimler and Nissan will share the total investment cost for Aguascalientes of approximately €1-billion. The companies will add almost 5,700 jobs (including engineering, line workers and support staff) by the time the plant reaches full capacity, expected in 2021. In addition, a high localization rate will significantly increase the Mexican supply base.

"Joint development of compact premium vehicles and joint production in Aguascalientes together represent one of the largest projects between the Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler. It also shows how our collaboration, which began in Europe, has become global in scope," said Carlos Ghosn.

Dieter Zetsche added, "In Aguascalientes, we will take our successful partnership to the next level by combining the skills of our two companies Daimler and Nissan in one production plant. Just over four years after the cooperation was founded, the decision for the new plant in Mexico is a major milestone."

Posted in: Aguascalientes Plant,Assembly/Manufacturing Plant,Carlos Ghosn,Daimler,Dr. Dieter Zetsche,Infiniti,Joint-Venture,Mexico,Nissan,North America,Renault