But Tennessee is not the only state where things are happening for Nissan. Beginning in the summer of 2003, production of a full-size pickup truck, a full-size SUV and a new model of minivan will commence at a factory now under construction in Canton, Miss. Construction began in April 2001 on the $930-million, 2.6-million-sq.-ft. (241,500-sq.-m.) plant, which will employ around 4,000 people. The facility will produce 250,000 vehicles a year, taking the company over the 1-million vehicles per year mark in North America. (Nissan also assembles vehicles at plants in Aguascalientes and Cuernavaca, Mexico.)
      The supplier spin from these two major announcements is already being felt. Through a joint venture with Lextron Corp., Visteon will supply Nissan with cockpit and front-end control modules for the new models, and plans to build a regional assembly plant in Canton. Meanwhile, spurred in part by the increase in expansion activity in nearby Tennessee, Kentucky is welcoming two more auto parts suppliers. New Mather Metals has broken ground on a 100,000-sq.-ft. (93,000-sq.-m.) plant in Franklin, Ky., that will employ 94 to make stabilizers for Nissan, among other clients. Brake rotor maker Kiriu USA will locate a $9-million, 35,000-sq.-ft. (3,250-sq.-m.) facility in Bowling Green with 50 workers, with an initial focus on serving Nissan's Smyrna plant. Kentucky now employs over 37,000 in the automotive assembly and supply sector, pumping more than $9 billion into the state economy.