Saturday, May 12, 2012

Canada's Magna to build Nissan-brand Infiniti cars


VIENNA — Canadian auto manufacturer Magna said on Friday it had signed a memorandum of understanding to assemble Nissan’s luxury brand Infiniti cars, with an Austrian daily saying the site would be in Graz.

“This new vehicle represents a significant opportunity for the Infiniti brand to reach new consumers and grow in key markets such as Western Europe,” Andy Palmer from the Japanese firm said in a statement.

Austrian daily Kleine Zeitung said the new plant would create about 1,000 jobs and would produce 50,000 Infiniti vehicles every year from 2014, with Magna Steyr preferring Graz in southern Austria to a site in Poland.

Nissan said last month it would build two Infiniti models in China from 2014. It aims to boost sales of the cars to half a million units globally by 2016, up from 145,000 last year when it was produced in Japan and the United States.

source: japantoday.com