JATCO Builds New Mexican Plant

AGUASCALIENTES, Mexico – Nissan subsidiary JATCO announced investment of $220 million to build its second automotive parts plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico on Wednesday, beginning operations in the summer of 2014.

The factory will manufacture 400,000 automatic transmissions annually and have capacity to produce 1.7 million transmissions a year.

The company established JATCO Mexico in 2003 as its first overseas manufacturing base, and has been producing Continuously Variable Transmissions (CVTs) since 2005.

Cumulative production reached 3.8 million units in 2012, and the second plant will bring the total Mexico-based production capacity to 1.7 million by fiscal 2016.

At the start of operation of the second plant, the number of employees will increase to 3,200 from the current 2,200.

The new plant will be located in the same site as Nissan Mexicana's new manufacturing complex, which opens by the end of 2013.

The plant will be also used to produce automatic transmissions licensed from Daimler, which will be utilized in select Nissan and Infiniti vehicles beginning in 2016.

"Mexico is a very important base for JATCO in achieving the company's objective to attain 1 trillion yen sales by fiscal year 2018," said Takashi Hata, President and CEO of JATCO.

"Since the start of production, JATCO Mexico has been steadily producing high quality products to meet the expanding demand for environmentally-friendly CVTs and that prompted us to make further expansion in this country. Another important reason is a strong support from the governments of Mexico and Aguascalientes. With their continued cooperation, JATCO is determined to contribute to the economies of the region and the country."

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