While the next-generation Nissan Micra will be produced at Renault’s Flins plant near Paris from late 2016, the chassis for this model will be built at the Le Mans plant.
The facility will start making chassis components for the upcoming Micra towards the end of 2016, with the program expected to bring an increase of around 8 percent in the plant workload and to attract an investment budget of €7 million ($9.04 million) to be spent on new machinery.
The Le Mans plant will meet all the Nissan Micra chassis needs for the Flins plant, where Renault expects to build 132,000 vehicles per year from 2017 onwards. As a result, Renault will be building the whole chassis for Micra in France and will be assembling the car in France as well.
The Le Mans plant is Renault group’s primary chassis design and manufacturing center and is also the number-one industrial employer in the region. The facility builds chassis assemblies for Renault-badged vehicles, as well as for European-made Dacia and Nissan models.
With 2,200 employees, the Le Mans center is currently involved in practically all of the Renault group’s forthcoming product projects, and makes chassis components for Clio 4, Captur and New Trafic, plus Dacia Lodgy, Sandero and Duster, and Nissan Qashqai and Note. It also makes all the chassis parts for the Zoe EV (rear axle, rotating front-end, subframe, bottom arm), plus the battery support and engine cradle.
Established in 1920, the Le Mans plant exports 55 percent of its production output outside France and 25 percent outside Europe.
Note: Current generation Nissan Micra pictured
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