Nissan to close the first factory it opened overseas

Nissan has confirmed it will close its CIVAC factory in Mexico, the company’s oldest plant outside of Japan, by March 2026.

CIVAC, which is in the city of Cuernavaca around 80km south of Mexico City, currently produces the Versa sedan, as well as the ‘D23’ Navara, which is sold in Mexico as the NP300 two-door and Frontier four-door. Production of these vehicles will be moved to the company’s plants in Aguascalientes about 550km away.

Opened in 1966, CIVAC’s first production model was the Datsun Bluebird. A second line dedicated to making utes was added to site in 1975, and an engine plant became operational in 1978.

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By 1988 Nissan had become the number one car brand in Mexico — a position it clings to to this day — and in 1993 the factory had the honour of exporting the country’s first car to Japan, the Tsubame wagon.

Since its inception the plant has produced 6.5 million cars, most of which were sold in Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, North America, and the Gulf States.

Perhaps the most famous model made in Cuernavaca was the Tsuru (bottom), which was known in most markets as the Sentra. The third-generation ‘B13’ Tsuru/Sentra began rolling down the line in CIVAC in 1992, and production continued until 2017 when it was finally axed as it didn’t meet new safety regulations.

Although its body folded like a paper crane, and it lacked ABS and airbags, over 1.8 million ‘B13’ Tsurus were made during its 25 year run, and it was for a long time Mexico’s most popular car.

Despite its historic significance, the 400,000 square metre CIVAC plant currently only accounts for 11 per cent of Nissan’s car production in Mexico.

The COMPAS plant, a joint venture run with Mercedes-Benz, just 11km down the road from Nissan’s Aguascalientes factories is expected to close in 2026.

Nissan will production of the Infiniti QX50 SUV and QX55 coupe SUV by the end of 2025. Mercedes-Benz will stop making the GLB SUV there during the first quarter of 2026.

These two plant closures are part of Nissan’s latest turnaround plan, dubbed Re:Nissan, which aims to reduce the company’s production capacity, outside of China, from 3.5 million cars per year to 2.5 million. 

To do this it will close seven of its 17 car manufacturing plants. In the middle of July Nissan confirmed it will close the Oppama and Shonan factories in Japan.

A Reuters report in May indicated Nissan is considering closing factories in South Africa and Argentina. The automaker will remove the factory in India from its books by selling it to Alliance partner Renault.

Nissan has been skating on thin financial ice for about two years, and in May announced a loss of ¥670.9 billion (A$7.1 billion) for the financial year ending March 2025.

In response, new Nissan CEO Ivan Espinosa unveiled the Re:Nissan recovery plan, which in addition to plant closures will cut its global workforce by 15 per cent or 20,000 people, set up a cost-cutting “transformation office”, and has paused development of vehicles and technology due for launch after March 2027.

The automaker is also considering selling its headquarters in Yokohama.

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