Nissan to Invest $2 bn in New Plant in Mexico

Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. announced plans to invest $2 billion in building a third manufacturing facility in Mexico.

The new plant in the central state of Aguascalientes will generate 3,000 jobs and spur the creation of around 9,000 other positions.

The Japanese automaker's existing Mexican factories are in Aguascalientes and the city of Cuernavaca, south of the capital. With the third plant, Nissan's workforce in Mexico will grow to 13,500. The new factory is scheduled to produce 175,000 small cars a year at the outset.

Construction will begin this summer and the first cars should be rolling off the assembly line in December 2013.