In 2000, Nissan hit the 5-million-vehicle mark in U.S. production, and it isn't about to let a slowdown slow it down. It's all part of what Nissan Motor Co. president Carlos Ghosn calls the Nissan Revival Plan (NRP), a mission that has helped the company achieve "the best financial performance in the company's history as far as we can reliably trace it," he said in May. "We have more than tripled operating profits and cut debt to the lowest level in 15 years. The NRP is fully engaged, and the people at Nissan are stimulated and driven by the results they have delivered."
      So driven that the company just announced that its Smyrna, Tenn., plant will be adding more than 2,000 jobs in order to produce its Maxima sedan there, in addition to the Altima, Frontier and Xterra vehicles. It's part of a plan that will pour more than $1 billion into the company's vehicle assembly operation in Smyrna and engine-manufacturing plant in nearby Decherd over the next four years. Smyrna's production will climb to 500,000 vehicles annually.
      "This move adds one of the strongest brand names in the North American auto industry to our line-up," says Emil Hassan, senior vice president, North American manufacturing, purchasing, quality and logistics. "This decision is good news for our employees in Smyrna and Decherd, of course, but it will also affect dozens of Nissan suppliers whose business will benefit from the increased volume at our plant. Though suppliers are still confirming their production plans, this program will require many of our suppliers to make additional investments. In Tennessee alone, we estimate they will invest nearly $50 million and create up to 500 jobs to support Maxima production."
      Further proof of the positive automotive climate in the Volunteer State came in early October 2001, when 3,103 out of 4,589 workers at Nissan's Smyrna plant voted for the fourth time in 12 years against becoming the first foreign-owned plant to join the United Auto Workers.
      Due in part to the inroads made by foreign-owned OEMs, UAW membership in the entire U.S. has fallen from 1.5 million in 1979 to 672,000 last year, according to Reuters. Certainly, most of those current members are not in the South: Tennessee has about 9 percent union membership, compared to 21 percent in Michigan.