This after reports have emerged from workers that Mercedes Benz Autos will lay off staff following the announcement to reduce production to a single shift.
Nissan Mexicana confirmed that there are plans to "separate" the business of the Renault-Nissan and Daimler Alliance in Aguascalientes, known as COMPAS (Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes), this after versions have emerged from workers that Mercedes Benz autos will lay off personnel after the announcement to reduce production to a single shift.
“At Nissan Mexicana, we are aware of the Separation Plan announced by COMPAS, the manufacturing complex of the Renault-Nissan and Daimler alliance in Aguascalientes.” However, the Japanese automaker stated that Nissan's operations in Mexico remain unchanged.
Although he did not give details about whether COMPAS will reduce working hours, given the low demand for Mercades Benz vehicles produced in Aguascalientes.
Through a brief comment, Nissan Mexicana explained to this newspaper that COMPAS has its own management and decision-making bodies in which Nissan Mexicana is not a part.
“Nissan continues with its usual operation in all the company's plants in the national territory, including all its operations in the state of Aguascalientes: Aguascalientes 1, Aguascalientes 2 and Powertrain,” he clarified.
After 7 years of starting manufacturing operations in Mexico, Mario Arredondo, leader of the Single Union of Automotive Industry Workers of the State of Aguascalientes (SUTIAEA), declared to a local media that “the plant (COMPAS) is going through a complicated situation and “The decision was made to do a shift, staff reduction.”
It was even proposed to them that “anyone who wishes to withdraw voluntarily should do so,” although there is no talk of a definitive closure, the leader said.
According to INEGI data, the production of Mercedes Benz light vehicles decreased 20.3% last May compared to the same month in 2023, when assembling 5,045 units of the GLB premium SUV. While it accumulates a decrease of 11.2% in the first five months, with 25,204 units.
An alliance that started on the wrong foot
The COMPAS business (Cooperation Manufacturing Plant Aguascalientes) is owned 50% by Daimler and 50% by Nissan. Both companies invested US$1 billion in COMPAS since 2012 and began operations at the end of 2017.
For 2021, in the United States, Nissan and Renault announced that they were leaving the alliance with Daimler. The Japanese automaker Nissan Motor reported that it was selling its stake—approximately 1.5%—in the German automaker Daimler.
