Jatco Plans Second Transmission Plant in Mexico

Nissan Motor Co. affiliate Jatco Ltd. says it will spend $220 million to erect its second factory in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The plant will begin making as many as 400,000 continuously variable transmissions per year by mid-2014.

The 549,000 sq.-ft. facility will produce Jatco's CVT8 transmission. Most of the output will feed the nearby assembly plant Nissan is scheduled to open at the end of this year. That facility, Nissan's second in Aguascalientes, will produce subcompact cars.

Jatco says its plant also will begin supplying automatic gearboxes licensed from Daimler AG for Nissan and Infiniti brand vehicles in 2016. Nissan has not confirmed media speculation that its new assembly plant will eventually make small luxury cars for the Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz brands.

Jatco opened its first transmission factory in Aguascalientes in 2005. The company plans to expand that facility's annual capacity to 1.3 million CVTs this summer.