Major car brand announces second factory closure this month as automaker rushes to slash costs

The Mexican factory was the brand’s first manufacturing base outside of Japan and has been in operation since 1966.

It has produced more than 6.5 million vehicles and currently represents 11 per cent of the brand’s production in Mexico.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing motoring@gbnews.uk

|

The CIVAC factory in Mexico is the second closure Nissan has announced, following a decision on the Oppama factory earlier this month

At present, it makes the NP300, Frontier and Versa models, with all of these being transferred to Aguascalientes.

Nissan said the change was necessary to “strengthen the company’s resilient and responsive global manufacturing footprint”.

The CIVAC plant will cease operations by March 2026 as Nissan moves all Mexican operations to the Aguascalientes complex.

Ivan Espinosa, CEO of Nissan, said: “For over 60 years, Nissan Mexicana has built a strong and trusted relationship with its stakeholders in Mexico, earning global recognition as one of the company’s flagship operations.

READ MORE: Nissan to end production at iconic factory amid plan to cut 20k jobs as Sunderland plant remains impacted

|

The CIVAC plant was first opened in 1966

“Today, we have made the difficult but necessary decision that will allow us to become more efficient, more competitive, and more sustainable.”

The Re:Nissan plan aims to reduce its global production capacity, excluding China, from 3.5 million units to just 2.5 million units.

Nissan said it would maintain a plant utilisation rate of around 100 per cent, although this will result in the closure of more factories.

This will involve the Yokohama-based company slashing its number of production sites from 17 to just 10.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

Espinosa added: “Throughout this transition, we remain deeply appreciative of the invaluable contributions made by our collaborators at the CIVAC Plant. Their dedication over the years has been instrumental to our success.

“I take this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our employees, customers, and to Mexico, which remains a strategic pillar for our company.”

It comes just two weeks after Nissan announced that it would be shutting the historic Oppama plant in Japan by the end of 2027.

The closure will see the automaker transfer all manufacturing operations to Nissan Motor Kyushu in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Espinosa described the closure of Oppoma as “tough but necessary”, adding that it played a “proud part of our history”.

As part of the cost-cutting measures, Nissan announced that it would be cutting 250 jobs at its Sunderland plant in the UK

Around 6,000 people work at the Sunderland factory, although bosses have frequently criticised the plant for having the most expensive energy costs of any Nissan plant in the world.

This is despite Nissan pledging a £2billion boost to accelerate the development of electric vehicles at the plant just two years ago.