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Tokyo, May 8 (Bloomberg) -- Nissan Motor Co. is pouring
almost $2 billion into U.S. plants, its most aggressive expansion
of capacity and model range there in two decades, to build on
recent market-share gains that have outpaced Japanese rivals.
Japan's third-biggest automaker plans to increase output in
the U.S. by 85 percent in 18 months by expanding production at its plant at Smyrna, Tennessee, and opening a factory capable of
building 250,000 trucks a year in Canton, Mississippi, said Nissan
Senior Vice President Emil Hassan.
Nissan's second year of record net income, aided by a weaker
yen and success in cutting costs, is helping to bankroll growth in
its most profitable market. The automaker will add 28 new and
restyled models to meet Chief Executive Officer Carlos Ghosn's
goal of raising global sales more than a third, or 1 million
units, within three years.
Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News expect Nissan to report
net income of 382 billion yen ($3 billion) for the year ended
March 31, helped by surging U.S. sales of the Altima. Nissan
releases preliminary results tomorrow in Tokyo.

Catching Up

Nissan is increasing U.S. investment to catch up with Toyota
Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., which grew faster throughout the 1990s. Honda has 11 plants in North America and Toyota has eight.
Nissan notched an 11 percent gain in U.S. sales to 250,234 in
the first four months of 2002, led by the Altima. The company's
sales in the biggest auto market fell 6.5 percent to 703,308 last
year, down from a peak of 830,767 in 1985.
In April, Nissan's U.S. sales rose 15 percent from a year
earlier, outperforming the industry's growth of 2.7 percent.
Nissan's U.S. market share grew by 0.4 point to 4.2 percent, while
Ford Motor Co., Honda and Toyota lost share.

New Vehicles

U.S.-bound autos, after the March release of the Infiniti G35
sedan, include the Murano and Infiniti FX45 sport-utilities and
Infiniti M45 luxury sedan. Redesigned Maxima sedans will be built
in Smyrna, while a new Quest minivan, large pickup trucks and full-size Nissan and Infiniti sport-utilities will be made in Canton.
Honda and Toyota routinely vie for the best-selling car model
in the U.S. In April, fleet sales and discounts by General MotorsCorp. and DaimlerChrysler AG halted the market-share decline by U.S.-based automakers for the first time in six months.
Nissan's Asia-based rivals also have their own growth plans.
Toyota is expanding its Indiana truck plant to make more Tundra pickups and Sequoia sport-utilities. Honda, which opened a truck factory in Alabama last year, is raising the plant's capacity to 150,000 Odysseys and V-6 engines from an earlier goal of 120,000. Honda has also begun making Pilot sport-utilities in
Canada to compete with Nissan's Xterra and Murano.
Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, is
building an Alabama plant to make Santa Fe sport-utilities and
Sonata sedans.

Adding Capacity

Nissan is investing $1 billion in Tennessee to expand
Smyrna's capacity with new assembly robots and enlarge the Decherdengine plant. Smyrna, which Harbour rates the most efficient U.S. auto plant, takes over Maxima production from a Japanese plant in January, in addition to making Altimas, Frontier pickups and Xterra sport-utilities. Decherd will make V-6 Altima and Maxima engines and V-8s for Canton's models.
Smyrna will have the capacity to make 515,000 vehicles by
2003, including 80,000 Maximas, up from 370,000 in 2001, said
Hassan, who runs the automaker's North American production unit.
Decherd will triple production to 750,000 engines. Higher
output means more jobs: 2,000 workers are being added in Tennessee and 3,000 people will work at Canton when the $930 million plant opens early next year, eventually rising to 4,000.
Including plants in Aguascalientes and Cuernavaca, Mexico,
which make 330,000 Sentra small cars and Scenic and Clio models
for partner Renault, Nissan will be able to build more than 1 million vehicles a year in North America by late 2003.