Posted on 04/09/2008 10:55:20 AM PDT by Red Badger
DETROIT, April 7 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co on Monday outlined plans to enter the U.S. market for light work trucks and said it planned a $118-million expansion to its Canton, Mississippi, plant to roll out three new models. Nissan <7201.T> said it had forged partnerships with Cummins Inc to supply diesel engines and ZF Friedrichshafen AG for automatic transmissions. The components will be used to power a line of yet-to-be announced work trucks Nissan said it will launch starting in 2010, a move that takes aim at a steady market now dominated by General Motors Corp and Ford Motor Co. Nissan already has light commercial vehicle operations in Japan, China and Europe and is planning to expand in the fast-growing markets of India and Russia, said Andy Palmer, vice president of the four-year-old business group at Nissan. The automaker, which is 44-percent owned by France's Renault , has not sold commercial vehicles in the United States, although it dominates the market for light pickup trucks and vans in Mexico. In shifting to produce trucks for the U.S. market, Nissan will halt production at its Mississippi plant of the Quest minivan and the Infiniti QX56 luxury sport utility vehicle. Company representatives declined to comment on plans for those vehicles beyond the 2010 launch of the first of the new work trucks. "They're still in production. They still have a number of years to go," said Dominique Thormann, senior vice president for Nissan North America. Nissan's Canton, Mississippi plant employs about 3,700 workers, and the company said it expected employment to hold steady through the transition to the new truck line-up.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
What? Not in Democrat Detroit? Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey?
I wonder why?
Add this to the new Toyota plant in Tupolo, and things are happening in Miss
I have a US assembled Nissan Frontier, it’s the most trouble free vehicle I’ve ever owned.
Gov. Haley Barber knows business...........
Just one more nail in the coffin of both the UAW and GM/Ford.
Nissan is one of our clients....the Quest and QX have done very poorly...and fail the Consumer Reports tests....
making a light duty base truck makes sense for that capacity....I would expect the Toyota Tundra to follow suit, although that has problems of its own.
I have a 1996 4WD Pathfinder assembled in the USA. Replaced the battery and tires once. Still looks and drives like new despite many winters driving on salted roads.... although the new car smell is long gone.
The Mississippi Nissan plant has been known for having problems. Could be that they are changing what is produced there to solve that. The Tennessee plant has been building good stuff for years. The Pathfinder, Xterra, Frontier and Titan are made in the TN plant.
I have a US assembled Nissan Frontier, it’s the most trouble free vehicle I’ve ever owned.
Me to and I love it.
A few years ago the Nissan Frontier was named the most "American-made" vehicle in America - more parts and labor for the Frontier came from American workers than for any other car on the market, including all of the Detroit products.
Even better. Mine has 160+K miles and works great.
Damn in-sourcing and weak dollar.
All these high-dollar jobs for non-union workers in a Republican state are a disaster (for idiots who don’t understand how free trade works).
Figures since we have no more heavy industry.
My husband has a 10 year old Frontier, it just runs and runs without any work but the oil changes. He wants to get a new vehicle but is truck won’t die....LOL.
Same with my 2004 Titan.
I was surprised to here that Cummings will be supplying the Engines for the Nissan Trucks and Buses they plan to make in Mississippi. I thought that Cummings was recently acquired by the Ford Motor Company.
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