Magna Unit Loses Chance to Build Infiniti Cars

Nissan Motor Co. has reversed its plan to hire the Magna Steyr unit of Canada's Magna International Inc. to assemble a new small sedan for its Infiniti luxury brand.

Nissan declared in May that Magna Steyr would assemble the new Infiniti model at its factory in Graz, Austria, starting in 2014. Now the carmaker intends to begin producing European versions of the car at one of its own facilities in the region in 2015.

Nissan operates European assembly plants in Barcelona, Spain; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Sunderland, U.K. Its Infiniti brand currently sells a few thousand units per year all of them imported in western Europe.