Nissan Starts Quest Production in New Canton Mississippi Plant

Full-Size Titan Pickup and Pathfinder Armada SUV Will Be Produced Next

Can Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co. truly be considered a major threat to the Big 3 in North America? Those who say never might think back to when Cadillac and Lincoln owned the top sales positions in the luxury vertical. Why pose the question? Because Japans No. 2 car and light truck manufacturer has just moved one step closer to the target.

Yesterday, in Canton, Mississippi, Nissan started the wheels turning in its second U.S. assembly plant, a $1.43 billion facility specifically built to manufacture full-size, North American-style vehicles, particularly a minivan, full-size pickup truck and sport utilities - one for Nissan and another earmarked for the Infiniti brand - the current backbone of U.S. automakers.

Ford, General Motors and Dodge, in that order, are still doing well selling their respective light trucks, but Japanese carmakers are presently conquering the North American car market, while the domestics suffer.

The launch of a true full-size pickup from Japan is an altogether new threat for the domestics to consider. While Toyota Motor Corp. was the first foreign automaker to offer a full-size pickup in North America, the Tundra, the new Nissan Titan King Cab and even larger 4-door Crew Cab deliver even more muscle plus creative cargo solutions never before seen in the category. The King Cabs clamshell rear doors are revolutionary as well, folding rearward flat against the side of the truck to allow easier entry and exit. Also, interior quality will be best in class, or at least equal to the new completely upgraded Ford F-150.

That Ford will no doubt remain top dog in the segment, with Chevy and then Dodge pulling up the rear. The Toyota has never made a significant dent in the market, but thats not to say the Nissan will suffer the same fate. Its 5.6-L V8 is much more powerful and styling the boldest of the two imports. Its possible the Titan could carve out a sizable niche of its own, despite the strong brand loyalty among pickup truck owners.

Before the truck goes into production, however, Nissan will begin building the stylish 2004 Quest minivan, all-new from the ground up. It features one of the most unique interiors in the industry, with an executive jet-like passenger compartment, two rows of rear seats that fold into the floor and a distinct, sporty exterior design.

It gets a version of the brands award winning VQ engine too, that is also found in the Nissan Altima, Maxima and all-new Murano SUV, plus a raft of top-tier Infiniti models. In the Quest the 3.5-L V6 produces 245-hp and 246 lb-ft of torque to make it one of the most powerful in its class. The new van owes nothing but its name to the previous Quest that shared many of its components, as well as its basic architecture, with Ford Motors Mercury Villager minivan.

Marking the beginning of production for the new Quest, Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO, dedicated the new Mississippi plant yesterday. Reuters reported that Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott named Ghosn "a rock star of automobile production" while a crowd of plant workers cheered on before him.

Along with the Titan pickup that will start production later this summer, the Canton facility will also build the upcoming Nissan Pathfinder Armada, a full-sized sport utility vehicle to take on the likes of Fords Expedition, GMs Tahoe/Yukon and the Toyota Sequoia.

An Infiniti version of the full-size SUV is expected to debut next year, and will possibly be dubbed the QX56 to follow the engine displacement derived numerical designation the brand uses - the truck will also sport the 5.6-L V8. The current QX4, which uses a 3.5-L V6, is to be dropped at the end of this model year.

The new Canton assembly plant has the capacity to produce up to 400,000 vehicles annually, and therefore will be used to build Nissans popular Altima sedan, that is currently only built at the Smyrna, Tenn. facility, Nissans first U.S. manufacturing plant.

Its a positive sign to see such growth by an automaker in what most consider a down market, but obviously one companys gain is anothers loss. The Big 3 will without a doubt not only be watching Nissans progress closely, but will be countering the Japanese offensive with greater diversity in product, creative marketing and aggressive sales incentive programs.

At least for the time being the domestic manufacurers can breathe a sigh of relief that Nissan and Toyota havent entered into the lucrative heavy-duty 3/4 and 1-ton pickup truck market. But for the former it wouldnt take much to do so, and therefore, most likely will be forthcoming.