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Nissan Starts Frontier Pickup Production in Aguascalientes After $96 Million Refit

State officials are courting new owners for the nearby COMPAS plant to push the region toward electrification.

Overview

  • Nissan began building the NP300/Frontier in Aguascalientes on Wednesday after a $96 million upgrade that the company says will support about 6,000 direct and indirect jobs.
  • To launch the line, Nissan moved tooling and assembly lines from Argentina and its CIVAC plant in Morelos, shipping more than 2,000 manufacturing units and retraining crews.
  • Executives said the site is now Nissan’s largest hub in Latin America, with capacity above 580,000 vehicles a year and more than 790 robots, and the Frontier adds roughly 150,000 pickups to output.
  • With COMPAS scheduled to cease production on May 31, officials said around 1,000 employees remain as offers, including from Chinese automakers, are reviewed under strict confidentiality.
  • Global CEO Iván Espinosa said Nissan shut plants in Argentina and Cuernavaca because output never matched installed capacity, a reset that concentrates pickup manufacturing in Mexico to cut costs and tighten logistics.