Nissan will invest $160 million toward a new vehicle production plant in Algeria to meet growing customer demand across Africa and produce commercial vehicles.

Nissan and Groupe Hasnaoui, Nissan's distributor in Algeria, will fund a plant with the capacity to build 63,500 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles annually, and will produce several models, according to the automaker. Details of the lineup will be announced at a later date.

Algeria is forecast to be the second-largest car market in Africa by 2021, Nissan said. The government is working to diversify the economy and has set a target to ultimately raise production to 500,000 cars a year, while growing the local supplier base.

The Nissan car plant is expected to create at least 1,800 jobs in Algeria and support many more in the supply chain, according to a release from the automaker. Nissan teams from Japan will work with suppliers in the country to develop the local component industry through technical support, training and skills exchange.