Daimler and Renault-Nissan have announced plans for a new plant in Mexico that will build new compact vehicles for both the Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti brands.
Daimler and Renault-Nissan have announced plans for a new plant in Mexico that will build new compact vehicles for both the Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti brands. Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn and Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche announced today 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 plant, which will be near an existing Nissan plant 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.
Both automakers are keeping most of the details under wraps, but there have been reports that production of the next Mercedes-Benz CLA could move to the plant.
Carlos Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance: “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.”
Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars: “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.”
Source: Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz
