Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., recently announced it would invest 15.7 billion yen in its Yokohama Plant to boost annual engine and suspension capacity to 680,000 units by fiscal year 2007 from 430,000 units in fiscal year 2005.
Nissan will also upgrade the plant’s production lines to enable them to manufacture more environmental-friendly engines.
The expansion will create 100 new jobs. The plant currently employs about 3,000 workers, including temporary workers.
The additional production capacity will enable Nissan to respond to growing vehicle demand under its Nissan Value-Up plan. Under that plan, Nissan aims to boost global vehicle sales to 4.2 million units in fiscal year 2008.
“The capacity expansion means a significant advantage for the GCC markets” commented Takeshi Nakajima, Deputy Managing Director at Nissan Middle East. “Under the Nissan Value-Up plan, we except that vehicle sales in the GCC will rise significantly. The expansion in the Yokohama Plant will raise the unit production capacity as well as create ecologically friendly engines for the future.”
The 15.7 billion yen investment is in addition to the 11 billion yen Nissan invested in the plant in fiscal year 2004 for the startup of production of the all-new MR compact engine.
The Yokohama Plant, which is located in Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture 25 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, began operations in 1935 as Japan's first mass production factory for automobiles. Today the plant is Nissan’s main manufacturing plant for engines and unit parts, including suspensions, worldwide.
