Nissan’s Canton plant will shift some production to EVs in the coming years.
As part of a broader investment into EV manufacturing, Nissan announced Thursday it would put $500 million into updating its Mississippi facility to build two new models in 2025. The teaser image included with the release shows one Nissan-branded EV, as well as a new Infiniti model that workers at the 2,000-strong plant will produce.
“Nissan is making a strong investment in Canton’s future,” said company COO Ashwani Gupta, “bringing the latest technology, training, and process to create a truly best-in-class EV manufacturing team.” Over the coming years, Nissan aims to invest $13.5 billion into its manufacturing operations, though details beyond the cryptic image shown above are scarce as to where these EVs will land in Nissan and Infiniti’s lineups.
Currently, Nissan builds three vehicles at the Canton plant, including the Altima sedan as well as the Frontier and Titan pickup trucks. At this point, it’s not clear whether the automaker will expand the plant’s production to accommodate EVs while keeping the existing lines running in Mississippi, shift existing vehicles to another plant, or something else. Nevertheless, the move will broaden Nissan’s U.S. EV manufacturing footprint. Outside these forthcoming models, the automaker builds its Leaf hatchback at its Smyrna, Tennessee plant, as well as in Japan and the United Kingdom. This year’s Ariya, for its part, will roll off the Tochigi assembly line in Japan.
On today’s announcement, Mississippi governor Tate Reeves said, “For nearly two decades, Mississippians have kept our state at the forefront of the world’s automotive industry. The announcement that Nissan Canton is shifting some production to EVs further positions Mississippi as a leader in this crucial economic sector.”
