In response to the (ever-changing) tariff taxes deployed by the Trump administration, Nissan is mulling a shift in Sentra production.
According to Automotive News, who was informed by an unnamed Nissan supplier, the company is considering pulling up some of its Sentra production stakes in Mexico and departing for an underutilized plant in Mississippi. This is not to say Nissan could be leaving Mexico altogether but does suggest it may shift production to this country of Sentra sedans intended for sale in America.
Why ole’ Miss? That is the facility in which the Frontier and Altima are currently produced, a production line said to be operating at roughly half its maximum capacity. With the Altima having one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel, that utilization rate is likely to drop even further.
Shoveling Sentra production its way would help solve numerous problems, then. It wasn’t that long ago Nissan was planning to backfill the production capacity with EVs but, as we know and as anyone with half a clue could have predicted, the outsized growth rate in that market has not been sustained. The EV market is still growing, just not at huge leaps like it did for a few years. By the way, the original all-electric plans called for two sedans and a couple of crossovers; the four-doors have been shelved and the crossovers are now subject to a revised development schedule.
All that being said, supply chains are a funny thing. Nissan might have space in the States in which to build the Sentra but there’s no guarantee its suppliers can handle such a shift, at least not seamlessly. If the company does build all Sentra sedans intended for America on this side of the Rio Grande, it’ll be interesting to see what happens to its sticker price given the delta in cost of doing business here versus Mexico. Then again, a tariff tax could also push the cost skyward.
Nissan sold 152,659 Sentra sedans in the States last year, nearly one-fifth of its total volume.
[Image: Nissan]
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