The Canton plant will soon produce eight different models. Ot launched the new Altima just last year.
Expect some big changes when the next Nissan Murano crossover comes to market in 2014.
For one thing, the midsize CUV will sport an all-new body based on the Nissan Resonance Concept debuting at next week’s North American International Auto Show. And, for the first time, it’s expected to be paired with an optional hybrid powertrain – one of 16 gas-electric models the Japanese maker intends to launch by 2016.
But the next-gen Murano also will start rolling out of Nissan’s big assembly plan in Canton, Mississippi. It will become the eighth product produced at the plant, which is just celebrating its tenth anniversary.
“As we look back on ten years of manufacturing in Canton, it’s become clear throughout the Nissan network that ‘Made in Mississippi’ is a stamp of quality and great people,” said Bill Krueger, vice chairman of Nissan Americas. “With the addition of this new model in Canton, Nissan is well on its way toward meeting our goal to manufacture 85% of the vehicles we sell in the U.S. right here in North America.”
Nissan is offering a tease of the Resonance concept coming to the Detroit Auto Show next week.
(For more on the Nissan Resonance Concept and the next-gen Nissan Murano, Click Here.)
The Canton plant is one of two Nissan assembly facilities in the U.S., the other being the massive factory complex in Smyrna, Tennessee that is this week formally launching production of the Nissan Leaf battery-electric vehicle.
Now one of the largest private employers in the region, Nissan produces a mix of some of its biggest and its best-selling models in Canton, ranging from the latest-generation Altima sedan to the full-size Armada SUV and NV commercial and passenger vans.
Nissan has been rapidly expanding its global production base, especially in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan and all but shuttered much of that country’s auto industry for the months that followed. Like competitors such as Toyota and Honda, Nissan has also been forced to outsource production to minimize the impact of the strong yen.
But it has also been expanding production to take advantage of the potential of emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called BRIC markets. Then there is Mexico. Nissan already operates two assembly plants there and is in the process is setting up a third production complex in Aguas Calientes.
And Daimler, which has been expanding a nascent partnership with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, is expected to add a plant of its own alongside that new Nissan factory to produce some compact luxury cars, possibly for both the German Mercedes-Benz brand as well as Nissan’s Infiniti subsidiary.