In the news: Nissan will reportedly move production of the Quest minivan and the Infiniti QX56 sport-utility vehicle to two factories in Japan from the company's plant in Canton, Miss. over 2008-2009.
According to Japan's Nihon Keizai business daily, Nissan expects to save money from the move because its domestic plants are better equipped to handle model changes for vehicles produced and sold in relatively small quantities. The unused manufacturing capacity at the Mississippi plant would be shifted to increased production of pickup trucks, leaving total plant output unchanged, the paper added.
Nissan sold about 40,000 Quests and 15,000 QX56s in North America in 2005, the paper noted.