Nissan said the new plant, in the north-central Mexican state of Aguascalientes, is scheduled to begin operations in late 2013 and would support annual production of up to 175,000 of 'B' platform vehicles, which include the Versa hatchback and the Juke small crossover vehicle.
"Mexico is a key engine for Nissan's growth in the Americas," Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said in a statement.
"Together with our new plant in Brazil, this new manufacturing facility in Aguascalientes is an important pillar in our strategy to ensure that Nissan has the capacity it needs to increase sales volume and market share across the Americas," he added.
The Japanese automaker said it would consider expansion of the new plant once product and capacity needs are finalized. It would also build an all-new supplier park on the site.
Nissan's plans follow Mexican plant announcements made last year by Honda Motor Co Ltd and Mazda Motor Corp .
Up to 3,000 direct jobs will be created initially at Nissan's new plant, and about 9,000 positions will be generated within the supply chain and wider community, raising Nissan's total headcount in Mexico to nearly 13,500.
Last year, Nissan built more than 600,000 vehicles at its Mexican plants, one in Cuernavaca just south of Mexico City and a second in Aguascalientes. Nissan Mexico CEO Jose Munoz told reporters Nissan expects production in Mexico to rise 10 percent this year.
Nissan's existing Mexican plants export 70 percent of their vehicles to 100 countries, including about 250,000 Sentra and Versa cars annually to the United States.
Nissan said its 2011 sales in North and South America rose 17 percent to more than 1.56 million vehicles and its market share in the region rose to 7.5 percent from 7 percent in 2010.
In June 2011, Nissan outlined plans to boost both its global market share and profit margin to 8 percent within six years, a plan dubbed Nissan Power 88.
The first phase of development for the new plant will include installation of body, trim and chassis and paint manufacturing capability as well as associated parts warehousing and logistics operations, Nissan said. An on-site test track also will be built.
Nissan previously said it was studying opportunities in Mexico after a state government there announced the automaker was considering investing $2 billion in a new plant there.
Nissan Americas Vice Chairman Bill Krueger said the investment in the initial phase would be less than $2 billion but there was "room to grow" after that. "We've got more demand right now in the Americas than we have capacity," he said.
Krueger said the new plant will build only Nissan vehicles and not for alliance partner Daimler AG. Nissan and Renault formed an alliance with Daimler in April 2010 under which they agreed to jointly develop cars and engines. (Reuters)
