Under its new partner's guidance, Nissan in October announced a restructuring that will idle plants in Japan, cut jobs and reduce expenses. Poor sales of Smyrna's products in recent years have reduced output. The factory built nearly 325,000 units last year, up from 1998 on sales of the popular Xterra and Frontier Crew Cab, but below the 466,000 peak in 1995. Xterra production has now been boosted to as much as 110,000 this fiscal year. And Smyrna last month unveiled ambitious plans to spend millions on new equipment, hoping to lure more production and bring up to 2,000 additional jobs, one-third more than the 6,000 employees there now.
Groom says management is angling to get new products.
And Schuster said that while Nissan's two Mexican plants also are underused, they will more likely build Renault vehicles for foreign markets. Smyrna, meanwhile, is a versatile factory with experience in building trucks. With the Tundra poised to sell about 100,000 units this year, Schuster said, Nissan clearly hopes to cash in on the continued boom in light truck sales. Michael Davis covers manufacturing, organized labor and transportation for The Tennessean. Associated Press content is Copyrighted by The Associated Press.