Nissan Forklift will open a manufacturing plant in Argentina in a bid to wrest control of the market from Toyota.
Argentina was the third-most developed industrial economy in South America and Nissan could not "stand aloof", director Eduardo Torres Lopez told the Latin America News Digest.
Toyota was the Argentine leader in industrial machinery with 30% of total annual sales. Nissan, now ranked third behind Mitsubishi, had 7% of the market, Lopez said.
After opening the plant, Nissan planned to lift its share to 15%.
Until this announcement, Nissan's 40-year Argentine presence had been only in the passenger car business.
Forklifts had been supplied from Japan via Nissan Forklift in Chicago, USA, Lopez said.
Nissan would base its machinery shopfront in Buenos Aires.
But importing machinery from Japan would mean higher prices, so Nissan had decided to manufacture them in Argentina.
Nissan Forklift was established in 1957 and produces 27,000 forklifts a year.