File Photo: The American flag is agitated in a Nissan car dealership in Irvine, California, USA, March 27, 2025.
Mike Blake | Reuters
Nissan Motor's The New Americas leader said that the automobile manufacturer aims to “maximize” the production at its largest American production plant amid the automotive rates of 25% of President Donald Trump.
Christian Meunier, who began as president of Nissan Américas in January, said that tariffs are accelerating the plans already necessary for the car manufacturer to increase national production to help in a change of their US operations.
“We have great facilities, great capabilities and today we have no maximum capacity. We still have more space to improve our capacity,” Meunier told CNBC during a virtual interview on Wednesday. “We are looking to sell more US products and adjust, along the way, vehicles that come from Mexico and Japan.”
Meunier said that his “final objective” is “maximizing” the capacity in facilities of 6 million square feet in Smyrna, Tennessee. The installation is capable of producing 640,000 vehicles a year in three shifts, he said. It produced more than 314,500 vehicles last year in two shifts with approximately 5,700 people.
“We are looking for a maximum capacity and making Smyrna the power it used to be,” he said. “That is my ultimate goal … to complete the plant and earn a lot of money again.”
Meunier refused to speculate within a period to hit that maximum production in the plant, which currently manufactures four products, including the Nissan Rogue of the car manufacturer, its best -selling vehicle nationwide. He said he has been changing the plans for some time and moving production.
“We can increase production, as I described in the existing models that we have in the USA., And we commit ourselves to a plan to bring a product in the next two years … or a couple of products to the US market. But it cannot happen overnight,” he said.
Meunier's comments are produced two days after Trump said he is looking to “help” some car manufacturers, saying that companies need time to alter production plans.
Christian Meunier, then executive officer of the Jeep brand in Stellantis NV, during the New York International Auto (Nyias) of 2023 in New York, on Wednesday, April 5, 2023.
Stephanie Keith | Bloomberg | Getty images
Nissan is looking to add hybrid production to Smyrna, as well as new products as an infiniti model, Meunier said. He also said that the company is analyzing production increases for motor train components, such as engines and increased national content.
“The good thing is that we have flexibility. We have the ability to accelerate, do things faster than we would normally have,” Meunier said. “I was already working on it before the rate, because I am convinced that the location is the way.”
Tariffs on imported vehicles in the US have been in force since April 3, despite Trump's recoil last week in other taxes in the country. Additional 25% rates in automatic parts are scheduled to enter into force before May 3.
Meunier said that these potential parts rates would damage the company and its plans.
“Hopefully there are solutions that do not completely hurt, largely to 25% because that is a lot,” he said. “Hopefully there is a commitment in the middle.”
Nissan has two assembly plants in Mexico that produce a variety of vehicles, including imports such as Nissan Kicks and Nissan Versa. In 2024, according to reports, Nissan produced almost 670,000 units in Mexico, with more than 456,000 exported, according to UNOTV in Mexico.
Autoworkers at the Smyrna de Nissan vehicle assembly plant in Tennessee, June 6, 2022. The plant uses thousands of people and produces a variety of vehicles, including the EV of the leaf and the rebel crossover.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
In the United States, Nissan says it has assembly facilities capable of producing more than 1 million vehicles, 1.4 million engines, 1.4 million walls and 456,000 cast pieces annually. Of that complete capacity, the car manufacturer produced almost 525,600 vehicles in the United States in 2024.
In addition to Smyrna, the company has a large motor train plant in Tennessee and another large vehicle assembly plant in Canton, Mississippi.
The Canton plant currently produces the Nissan Altima Sedan and Nissan Frontier Midpleiz truck walks. Use approximately 5,000 workers in a single change for the Altima and two shifts for the border.
Rogue and The Pathfinder, as well as the border, which has experienced a significant decrease in market share in recent years to approximately 7% to 8% of its segment, are among vehicles with the greatest growth potential for Nissan in the United States, Meunier said.
Nissan reduced the price of rogue and pathfinder between $ 640 and almost $ 2,000, depending on the vehicle and the model, in response to tariffs. He also stopped taking new orders from the USA for two SUVs built by Mexicans for his infiniti luxury brand.
“Nissan has fought a little lately, but we have a good plan,” he said. “We have a good product in process. We are launching a super good product now that is successful, and we will change it despite the rate.”
