Nissan maintains operations in Mexico

Despite the 25% tariffs imposed by the United States on vehicles and components manufactured in Mexico, Nissan confirmed that it will not modify its manufacturing strategy in the country. The Japanese automaker will continue to operate normally in its Mexican plants

Christian Meunier, president of Nissan USA, stressed that the company will adjust its commercial and logistics strategy to absorb the additional costs without reducing its production capacity in Mexico.

“We will accept paying tariffs for a while and see how we can maneuver,” he stated. “We will have to make adjustments as we go along, but we will be very careful, because ultimately it is critical to maintain the pace of sales.”

The tariffs will mainly affect economy models priced below US$30,000, such as the Nissan March and V-Drive 2025, whose prices in Mexico are around US$14,679 and US$15,235, respectively. According to Cox Automotive estimates, the cost of these vehicles could increase between 10% and 15%, which represents a hard blow to middle-class consumers.

Although Nissan has the capacity to increase production at its U.S. plants -with a potential of up to 800,000 units per year-, Meunier acknowledged that it would be a challenge to manufacture economical models without importing key parts from Mexico, such as engines, transmissions or batteries, also subject to tariffs as of May 3.

Nissan's decision comes in a context where the Mexican peso has shown strength against the dollar, reaching its best level in six months. Even so, the company reiterated that it will maintain its investments in Mexico and the production of its models.