Nissan considering Rosslyn plant closure – report

Nissan’s Rosslyn plant in South Africa is on the beleaguered automaker’s list of 7 production facilities set to close over the next two years, according to a fresh report out of Japan. However, Nissan SA says it’s not able to confirm whether the Gauteng-based plant will indeed be affected.

Earlier in May 2025, Nissan announced a worldwide “recovery” plan that includes 20,000 job cuts as well as the closure of seven production plants over the next two years. Now, citing unnamed sources, Reuters reports that the list includes twi factories in Japan and two in Mexico, along with plants in South Africa, India and Argentina. However, Nissan’s global head office says the report is “speculative and not based on any official information”.

The Rosslyn plant currently builds only the Navara.

Cars.co.za asked Nissan South Africa to comment on the future of its Rosslyn plant and the company told us it’s “currently conducting a detailed assessment regarding the announced plant closures”, adding in its statement that this process is “internal”. As such, the Japanese firm’s local division says it is unfortunately not able to confirm “at this stage” which plants “will be affected”.

Nissan’s global cost-cutting drive is built around reducing its workforce by 20,000 employees (including the previously announced 9,000 job cuts) and “consolidating” its production plants from 17 to 10 by fiscal year 2027 (which starts in April 2027).

Ivan Espinosa, Nissan president and CEO.

In addition, Nissan says it will switch to a more “market-specific approach”, positioning the United States, Japan, China, Europe, the Middle East and Mexico as “key markets” and adopting a “customised approach to other markets”.

As a reminder, in October 2023, Nissan South Africa entered a “formal consultation phase to restructure the business”. This followed the news that the NP200 half-tonne bakkie – which went out of production at Rosslyn in March 2024 – would not receive its planned replacement.

After some 16 years, Rosslyn production of the NP200 ended in March 2024.

Since the NP200’s demise, the Rosslyn factory – long described as Nissan’s “light commercial vehicle hub” for Africa – has been producing only the long-in-the-tooth D23-series Navara. However, in October 2024, Nissan SA’s Managing Director Maciej Klenkiewicz told us the company was “working on the replacement, but the process is starting from scratch”.

At the reveal of the Navara Pro-4X Warrior in March 2025, Jordi Vila, President of Nissan Africa, said he “sees a strong future for our company in Africa”, adding that the Navara “represents a core model in our plans to capture opportunities and expand our footprint”.

Single- and double-cab Navara units are made at Rosslyn, for SA and other African markets.

Over the opening four months of 2025, Nissan SA registered 1,838 units of the Rosslyn-made Navara locally, seeing it rank sixth on the list of Mzansi’s best-selling bakkies, year to date (the Navara occupied the same position in 2024, with 4,874 units sold in SA). Over the same four-month period, the factory exported 3,101 units.

Nissan officially opened its Rosslyn plant in 1966, meaning the factory has been producing new vehicles for nearly 60 years. In addition to various Datsun and Nissan nameplates, the factory has also built models from other brands, such as the first-generation Fiat Uno and Renault Sandero.

Originally published on Cars.co.za...