NASHVILLE,
TN – Nissan today announced that the
all-new, next generation Nissan Pathfinder premium sport
utility vehicle will be built at the Smyrna, Tenn., assembly
plant beginning in the fall of 2004.
The
addition will bring approximately 800 new Nissan jobs at
the Smyrna assembly and Decherd powertrain plants. Also,
approximately 700 new jobs will be created at the on-site
operations of Smyrna and Decherd suppliers and contractors,
and additional jobs will ripple through other Nissan suppliers
that help build the new product.
The
company will invest nearly $250 million to accommodate the
production shift of the Pathfinder, as well as prepare for
upcoming model changes on the Nissan Xterra SUV and Nissan
Frontier pick-up truck. This will bring Nissan’s total
investment in Tennessee to $2.75 billion.
Plant
renovations will be minimal, adding only 170,000 additional
square feet to Smyrna’s current 5.4 million square-foot
plant. The facility’s Stamping plant will increase
by 90,000 square feet and an additional 80,000 square feet
will be added to the company’s logistics center. Annual
production capacity at Smyrna will increase to 550,000 units
and will be divided between two platforms and five models.
Altogether, the plant will have the capability to produce
up to 300,000 trucks and SUVs and up to 250,000 sedans.
No new
building space will be needed at the Decherd plant. Its
capacity will be increased to nearly 1 million engines annually.
“The
additional volume increases the Smyrna plant’s flexibility
to adjust our production mix to changes in the marketplace,”
said Emil Hassan, senior vice president, North American
Manufacturing, Purchasing, Quality and Logistics for Nissan
North America. “Production of the Pathfinder is an
appropriate move for the company given our employees’
track record of handling the complexities of manufacturing
multiple vehicles. It will be a challenge to integrate this
all-new SUV into our product mix, along with our upcoming
model changes. But I know the Smyrna and Decherd teams are
capable of handling the challenges of manufacturing five
separate vehicles simultaneously.”
In a
press conference at the Tennessee Capitol, Gov. Phil Bredesen
welcomed Nissan’s news of the continuing growth for
the company in Tennessee.
“Today’s
announcement is a tremendous vote of confidence in our state’s
business climate and workforce,” said Bredesen. “We
are proud that Nissan has chosen, once again, to expand
in Tennessee and we look forward to the opportunity to build
upon our much-valued partnership with them.”
Nissan
has invested approximately $4.2 billion in its three U.S.
manufacturing facilities. At the Smyrna, Tenn., assembly
plant, workers currently build Nissan Maxima sports sedans,
Nissan Xterra sport-utility vehicles, Nissan Frontier pickup
trucks and Nissan Altima midsize sedans. Its Canton, Miss.,
plant builds the all-new Quest minivan and by mid-2004 will
launch the Nissan Titan King Cab and Crew Cab full-size
pick-up trucks, the Nissan Pathfinder Armada full-size sport
utility vehicle, a full-size SUV for Infiniti and additional
Altima sedans. In Decherd, Tenn., Nissan employees machine
components and assemble transaxles and all the vehicle engines
for both Nissan’s U.S. automotive manufacturing plants.