Nissan Grows in Tennessee

This is the Nissan Vehicle Assembly and Battery Plant in Smyrna, Tennessee:

Outside Nissan Smyrna

The assembly plant measures 5.9-million square feet. Inside, they’re building the Altima, Maxima, LEAF, Rouge, Pathfinder, and Infiniti QX60. Last year the people in the plant manufactured more than 648,000 vehicles, which, according to Nissan, makes it the highest-producing auto assembly plant in North America. Nissan has invested $6-billion in the facility.

Earlier this week, Nissan announced that a $160-million, 1.5-million square-foot integrated logistics center will be built on the site.

Said José Muñoz, Executive Vice President, Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Chairman, Management Committee, Nissan North America, Inc., "This project is a key component to the long-term sustainability of our U.S. business as we close in on a goal of 10% U.S. market share."

According to Autodata, through February, Nissan North America’s share of the U.S. market is 9.2%.

Inside Nissan Smyrna

Presently, 85% of the vehicles that Nissan sells in the U.S. are manufactured in North America.

The Smyrna plant opened in 1983. That was the year that Motorola introduced the DynaTAC phone, the world’s first commercial cellular phone, and Microsoft introduced Word. In 1983 the Space Shuttle Challenger had its first flight, and Michael Jackson introduced his moonwalk.

Who then would have imagined that the Nissan plant would be so extensive and productive?