Nissan has opened the first of three new plants, the automotive production facility is a part of its plan to expand its manufacturing in Mexico to include the complete assembly of its Sentra model.

The new factory is one of two to come that will represent a substantial increase in the presence in the country of the Asian OEM. When production is fully operational, it will have the capacity to manufacture a yearly total number of 170,000 passenger vehicles. In terms of flexibility, the new Nissan Aguascalientes factory has the manufacturing infrastructure to build four different cars, using four different platforms. Despite this, the automotive production facility will be used exclusively for Sentras, due to demand, according to company CEO, Carlos Ghosn. Ghosen also commented that, “Sentras manufactured at the plant will be sold across the Americas.” Mexico will serve as a company export hub.

The addition of this number of units will increase Nissan’s current capacity of 650,000 passenger vehicles to an estimated 800,000 plus.

Information released by the company indicates that the new Sentra automotive production facility will be comprised of a complex of five buildings. Eventually, three thousand Mexican automotive workers will be employed within their confines as direct labor workers. It is estimated that the multiplier effect of these initial three thousand positions will lead to the creation of a further nine thousand job up and down the supply chain.

Nissan, the world’s sixth largest automaker behind Toyota, General Motors, Volkswagen Group, Hyundai Motor Group, and Ford, built its first factory in Mexico in 1966. Mexico was the first site of Nissan production outside of the carmakers home country, Japan.

The primary source for this post was an article at Automotive Business Review.