Nissan to stop production at historic CIVAC plant in Mexico by March 2026 – COMPAS plant to take over

Another Nissan plant is set to discontinue operations under the automaker’s Re:Nissan restructuring plan. This time, it is the CIVAC plant in Cuernavaca, Mexico, which will cease production by March 2026 (the end of Nissan’s fiscal year 2025).

The CIVAC plant is a historic site, as it began operations in 1966 and marked Nissan’s first expansion outside of Japan. To date, it has produced more than 6.5 million vehicles, with the first to roll off the line being the Datsun Bluebird. Currently, vehicles produced at the plant represent 11% of Nissan’s total production in Mexico, with models built there being the NP300, Frontier and Versa.

In an official release, Nissan said its neighbouring COMPAS (Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes) plant in Mexico located in Aguascalientes will take over production of models currently built at the CIVAC plant once the latter goes offline. “For over 60 years, Nissan Mexicana has built a strong and trusted relationship with its stakeholders in Mexico, earning global recognition as one of the company’s flagship operations,” said Ivan Espinosa, CEO of Nissan.

“Today, we have made the difficult but necessary decision, that will allow us to become more efficient, more competitive, and more sustainable. Throughout this transition, we remain deeply appreciative of the invaluable contributions made by our collaborators at the CIVAC plant. Their dedication over the years has been instrumental to our success. I take this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to our employees, customers, and to Mexico, which remains a strategic pillar for our company,” he added.

As part of the Re:Nissan plan, Nissan aims to reduce its global production capacity from 3.5 million units (excluding China) to 2.5 million units while maintaining a plant utilisation rate of around 100%. To achieve these targets, the company has been considering the consolidation of production sites from 17 to 10.

So far, the company has said it will stop producing cars at two sites in Japan, including its Oppama plant by March 2028 and Shatai Shonan plant by March 2027. The CIVAC plant joins the list as the company focuses on cutting costs.

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