Nissan says it will not take new U.S. orders for Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs

Japan Times

04-04-2025

Nissan said on Thursday it will not take new orders from the United States for two Mexican-built Infiniti sport utility vehicles following auto tariffs levied by U.S. President Donald Trump, in a drastic scale-back of its operations at a joint venture plant.
Nissan also said it will now maintain two shifts of production of its Rogue SUV at its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant after announcing in January it would end one of them this month.
The Japanese automaker will not accept any additional orders of the Infiniti QX50 and QX55 SUVs for the U.S. market produced at the Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes (COMPAS) plant it has run together with Mercedes-Benz in Mexico.
Nissan said production is expected to continue for those models sold to other markets.
It was not immediately clear how much of the production is sold in other markets. The two Infiniti models have only been exported from Mexico to the U.S., according to data from Mexico's national statistics agency.
A Japan-based Nissan spokesperson said on Friday the models do go to other markets such as the Middle East and Canada, but could not immediately provide more details.
Trump's 25% global car and truck tariffs took effect on Thursday.
Nissan has been struggling in the U.S. due to an aging lineup and a lack of hybrid models. It is particularly exposed to the new tariffs as it exports the biggest number of cars from Mexico to the U.S. out of any Japanese automaker.
Nissan's troubles led it to slash its profit forecast three times in the financial year just ended and saw its debt downgraded to "junk" status.
Its new chief executive, 46-year-old Ivan Espinosa, a Mexican national who previously was its planning boss, has pledged to drastically cut the time the automaker needs to develop new cars.
Mercedes-Benz manufactures its GLB SUV at the COMPAS plant.