Nissan to boost US production, halt Infiniti sales from Mexico
Cars are seen at a Nissan dealership in Houston, Texas, on Mar. 27, 2025. (AFP Photo)
Struggling Japanese carmaker Nissan announced Friday that it would stop selling two Mexico-produced Infiniti crossover models in the U.S. market amid looming Trump tariffs.
Trump’s 25% tariff on U.S. auto imports from Mexico and Canada took effect on Thursday, targeting $460 billion worth of goods.
“We are pausing any additional orders of the INFINITI QX50 and QX55 for the U.S. market produced at the COMPAS plant in Mexico,” a statement from the company said.
“Production is expected to continue for those models sold in other markets,” while “production of other U.S. models in Mexico and Japan continue based on market needs”.
Nissan is currently trying to tackle financial difficulties ─including by consolidating production lines at two factories in the United States. But on Friday, it said it was tweaking its plans to adapt to Trump’s levies, which came into force Thursday.
‘Rogue’ production to be boosted
“We will maintain two shifts of production of Nissan Rogue at our Smyrna, Tennessee plant, keeping more localized volume in the U.S. that is free of the new auto tariffs,” Nissan’s statement said.
Nissan added that it “currently has ample inventory at our U.S. retailers that is unaffected by the new tariffs”.
Last year, 30% of Nissan’s global unit sales—924,000 vehicles—were in the United States.
Of this total, 525,000 were made in U.S. factories, and the rest were imported from plants in Japan and Mexico.
Nissan, which forecasts a loss of more than $500 million this financial year, replaced its CEO in March following the failure of merger talks with rival Honda.
Moody’s has downgraded Nissan’s credit rating to junk, citing its “weak profitability driven by slowing demand for its ageing model portfolio”. Fitch and S&P Global Ratings have also downgraded it to a speculative category.
