Nissan Sentra Production May Move from Mexico to the U.S. to Dodge Tariffs

Car and Driver

14-05-2025

Nissan is considering moving production of the Sentra from Mexico to the United States to avoid tariffs, per a report today by Automotive News.
Citing an unnamed Nissan supplier, the AN report claims the popular compact sedan could be built at the automaker's factory in Mississippi.
The Sentra is currently the second-best-selling Nissan in America, but President Trump's tariffs could cause its affordable price to go up.
The 2025 Nissan Sentra is a compact sedan with an affordable price that currently starts under $23,000. However, it's also built at Nissan's assembly plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico, which means models sold in the United States are subject to a 25 percent tariff under the Trump administration's current rules. To avoid those tariffs, Nissan is reportedly considering moving Sentra production from Mexico to the U.S., according to Automotive News.
The report today by AN claims that an unnamed Nissan supplier spilled the beans on the situation; the struggling automaker has not officially announced it. The potential move would see Sentra production moved to Nissan's reportedly underused factory in Canton, Mississippi, which is where the Altima sedan and Frontier pickup truck are currently built. Car and Driver reached out to Nissan for comment on the report, and a spokesperson shared this statement: "We regularly evaluate our industrial strategy with supplier partners based on market requirements. We've made no changes to our plan."
Nissan
Still, while plans to move production of the Sentra from Mexico to the U.S. are unconfirmed, it sounds plausible due to Nissan's ongoing financial turmoil. Not only that, but earlier this week, Honda officially announced a similar move with its decision to build more CR-Vs at its two U.S. factories, though a Honda spokesperson said CR-Vs will continue to be built at the plant in Ontario, Canada.
The Sentra is an important car to Nissan because it's currently the second-biggest-selling model in America, behind only the Rogue compact SUV. As of last month, Nissan had sold more than 54,000 copies in the U.S. (a 34 percent increase compared with the same time a year before). As tariffs threaten to increase new-car prices, many people look for inexpensive options such as the Sentra, so Nissan surely wants to keep its cost of entry as low as possible.
Eric Stafford
Managing Editor, News
Eric Stafford's automobile addiction began before he could walk, and it has fueled his passion to write news, reviews, and more for Car and Driver since 2016. His aspiration growing up was to become a millionaire with a Jay Leno–like car collection. Apparently, getting rich is harder than social-media influencers make it seem, so he avoided financial success entirely to become an automotive journalist and drive new cars for a living. After earning a journalism degree at Central Michigan University and working at a daily newspaper, the years of basically burning money on failed project cars and lemon-flavored jalopies finally paid off when Car and Driver hired him. His garage currently includes a 2010 Acura RDX, a manual '97 Chevy Camaro Z/28, and a '90 Honda CRX Si. Read full bio