Following yesterday’s announcement of the Renault-Nissan Alliance jointly developing a midsize pickup truck with Daimler, Nissan has announced an aggressive investment plan for production of the new pickup in Argentina.

For the Japanese carmaker, which aims to enter the top three brands in Latin America, growth in Argentina – the most important market in the region – is of strategic importance.

Nissan plans to invest US$ 600 million (Rs 3,790 crore) to set up a dedicated assembly line for the pickup truck in the Renault production plant in Cordoba. In all, the plant will produce three pickup trucks – Mercedes-Benz’s first pickup truck, Nissan’s existing NP300 and the Renault 1-tonne truck – for the Latin American market.  

The annual production capacity of pickup trucks at the new production line is expected to be 70,000 units. This production line, in addition to directly employing about 1,000 people, will create indirect employment of 2,000. By 2018, the Nissan NP300 Frontier will roll out of the plant. With this, Argentina will join Thailand, Mexico, and Spain as part of the global production base network of the NP300 Frontier.

Nissan, which will showcase the new NP300 Frontier at the Buenos Aires Auto Show to be held in June 2015, will initially sell the model as an import from Mexico in Argentina. 

Read more:  Renault-Nissan Alliance and Daimler to jointly develop 1-tonne pickup truck