The
Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler AG together will be jointly developing
premium compact vehicles through joint production in Mexico, thereby
significantly expanding their cooperation.
The
bossmen of Renault-Nissan and Daimler Carlos Ghosn and Dieter Zetsche
respectively announced that their companies have agreed to establish a 50:50
joint venture. This JV entity will oversee construction and operation of the
new plant in Aguascalientes in north-central Mexico. The new plant will be
built in the immediate vicinity of an already existing Nissan plant. It will
have an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles when fully ramped up. Production is
expected to start in 2017 with Infiniti models. The production of Mercedes-Benz
brand vehicles will follow in 2018.
Daimler
and Nissan will share the total investment cost for Aguascalientes of
approximately €1 billion. Almost 5,700 jobs new jobs will be created in the
areas of engineering, line workers and support staff by the time the plant
reaches full capacity, which is expected
in 2021. In addition, a high localisation rate will significantly increase the
Mexican supply base.
Carlos
Ghosn, Chairman and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance noted that the 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. He noted that their collaboration, which began in Europe,
has become global in scope now.
Dieter
Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of
Mercedes-Benz Cars said that in Aguascalientes, the two companies will take
their 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,” he added