Nissan Picks Tennessee Plant for Hybrid

Nissan Motor Co. has picked its assembly plant in Tennessee for production of its first hybrid vehicle.

The company expects to sell as many as 50,000 gas-electric Altimas for the 2007 model year, a fraction of the nearly 1 million vehicles sold by Nissan North America.

“A lot of it will depend on how sales support it,” said Dan Gaudette, Nissan’s senior vice president of North American manufacturing and quality assurance.

Nissan will invest $10.4 million for additional equipment and minor modifications to existing assembly lines at the plant. Nissan will license technology from Toyota Motor Corp. instead of developing its own hybrid parts.

About 6,700 existing employees in Smyrna and 1,300 in an engine assembly plant at Decherd plus 2,800 supplier contractors will be trained to build the new line.