Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. is implementing sweeping operational changes across the Americas as part of its global “Re:Nissan” recovery plan, but the company is not abandoning these key markets despite significant plant and facility closures.
The restructuring includes shuttering manufacturing plants in Mexico and Argentina while consolidating design operations, but Nissan continues production and even expansion efforts in the United States.
The automaker plans to shutter two Mexican facilities by 2027: its CIVAC plant in Cuernavaca, Morelos, and the COMPAS facility in Aguascalientes. CIVAC, established in 1966 as the company’s initial overseas manufacturing site, will halt operations by March 2027, while COMPAS will end production in early 2026.
Nissan has already closed its Córdoba, Argentina manufacturing site, transferring Frontier pickup production to its Mexican operations. The company will continue sales and service activities through its Argentine subsidiary and dealer network.
As part of a global design consolidation, Nissan is also closing design studios in San Diego, California, and São Paulo, Brazil. The company is streamlining from multiple design centers to five core hubs worldwide, with Los Angeles’s Studio Six becoming the primary US design center.
Contrary to scaling back in America, Nissan is working to maximize capacity at its US plants. The company’s Smyrna, Tennessee facility, capable of producing 640,000 vehicles annually, is being repositioned as what Christian Meunier, Chairman of Nissan Americas, calls a “powerhouse” to avoid import tariffs under the Trump administration.
Meunier previously said that the company’s goal is to maximize US manufacturing capacity. Speaking to CNBC in April, Meunier said his “ultimate goal” is to “max out” the Smyrna facility while the company looks at “adjusting, along the way, vehicles that are coming from Mexico and from Japan.”
The restructuring follows Nissan’s challenging financial performance, including a $4.5 billion net loss in the previous fiscal year. Under the Re:Nissan recovery initiative, the automaker will shutter seven of its 17 worldwide production facilities and cut up to 20,000 positions by 2027.
The initiative seeks to cut worldwide production capacity from 3.5 million to 2.5 million units while boosting facility efficiency to full capacity.
In Latin America, the closures mark the end of an era for Nissan’s regional manufacturing presence, though the company emphasizes its commitment to maintaining sales and service operations. Mexico will become the sole production center for certain pickup truck models previously manufactured in multiple countries.
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